A Mess To Be Made
by Laynie
Summary: Princess Amelia has lived in Genovia her entire life with Grandmere. Finally, she's sixteen and she's asserting her independence - by moving to New York to spend a year with her mother and attending a normal high school. [Michael-Mia]
1. you're on the edge

          Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo was running. She was running away, faster than she'd ever ran in her whole entire life. She didn't know where she was going, all she knew was that she had to get away. Behind her, her Grandmere, Clarisse Renaldo, the dowager princess of the small European country Genovia, frowned in disapproval, yelling at her to come back, with her father, Phillippe, the crown prince of Genovia, to her left. 

          Suddenly and unexpectedly, Amelia tripped over a rock on the hard ground and fell on her face. She was falling, falling into an endless dark spiral of nothingness. As she fell, she could feel hands grabbing at her - the cold, soft hands of Grandmere, her father's rough and warm palms. She shouted, she could hear herself shouting. And then she hit rock bottom.

          Beep! Beep! Beep! 

          Princess Amelia woke up to the sound of her alarm clock buzzing incessantly. Groaning, she leaned over and fumbled blindly in the early morning sunlight, her eyes unadjusted and squinting in the light. Finally, her manicured fingers found the snooze button and she haphazardly smacked it, smiling as the beeping stopped. She buried her face back into her pillow, pulling her covers tighter around her body. 

          Moments later, just as Amelia was beginning to drift back into sleep, she heard the door to her bedroom open slowly, creaking. The palace in Genovia was old, and she heard every step as the intruder walked towards her bed. "Go away," Amelia muttered, wanting only to sleep for another hour, knowing fully well that she had a full itinerary planned out for the day. Being the princess of a country often entailed long days of tiresome and tedious work at things Amelia really didn't care a lot about.

          When Amelia was six years old, her Grandmere, whom Amelia was terrified of, had told Amelia the news - her father was actually the prince of the country they lived in, Genovia. Amelia lived in a palace with her Grandmere and her father, Phillippe, who raised her. She had never met her mother, and all Grandmere and Phillippe told her was that her mother had left her here when she was a baby and moved back to her native homeland of New York in the United States.

          "Amelia, it's seven o'clock. I even gave you fifteen minutes extra to sleep in. What more can you ask from me? Wake up." Grandmere's voice was strict and cold, as usual and Amelia knew that she meant every word she said. 

          In response, Amelia sighed and sat up in bed, pulling off her covers and stepping onto the cold marble floor. She ran her hands through her long, straight dishwater blonde hair, her mouth pursed in distaste. She wiped her fingers across her forehead. 

          Grandmere frowned. "Collect yourself. You have a serious itinerary to follow today, seeing as you'll be leaving for America tomorrow morning. Speaking of which, I hope you've packed all your things that you'll need. I'll ship the rest once you get there." She pursed her lips in distaste. Amelia cringed. "And for goodness sakes, Amelia, put on some eyeliner and undereye concealer. You look dreadful this morning." 

          Grandmere yanked open the curtains with a flick of her tiny wrists. She was a slight woman, petite, with white hair and tattooed eyeliner. When Amelia was younger and they spent the summers at Miragnac, Amelia had once went to see Grandmere late at night and was surprised to see that she was still wearing eyeliner. The truth came out – Grandmere's eyeliner was tattooed on. Amelia, a little girl, had thought that it was disgusting and asked Grandmere in all sincerity whether it had hurt or not. Grandmere merely told her that that was not a question that a young princess should ask. 

          Amelia yawned, followed by a bitter smile covering her face. At least for the next year she'd be away from Grandmere. She was moving away from Genovia and the palace where she'd lived her whole entire life to New York to spend a year living with her mother, Helen Thermopolis, and stepfather, the algebra teacher at the local high school, Frank Gianini, as well as their newborn son, Rocky, in a loft style apartment and attending a relatively normal high school, Albert Einstein High School. And she couldn't wait to get there. 

          Sweet freedom, at last. 

          Amelia pulled out her diary and began to write, a favorite companion of hers.

          **SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, ****7:15 AM******

_          I'm leaving tomorrow._

_          I'M LEAVING TOMORROW!!!_

_          I can't even believe it._

_          I mean, one more day of greeting the press and all that silly princess stuff and going to a stupid party in a really, really nice dress without a date, and then I'm free. FREE! A whole year without Grandmere. I thought this day would never come. On the other hand, I wonder what it will be like, going to a real high school. I mean, the kids are probably going to think I'm some kind of freak. Lars, my bodyguard, will be coming with me to school every day. And I'll be going to school in my limo. Normal kids don't have bodyguards. And I guess they don't go to school in limos. But hey, a bodyguard accompanying me everytwhere is totally a small price to pay for my freedom. I've never gone to a real school. I'd imagine it's going to be really, really great. _

_          I made Dad promise to keep donating to Greenpeace daily while I'm gone._

_          I've been waiting for this ever since I turned sixteen, and now it's finally happening. Finally._

_          Anyways, I have to go. Grandmere's got my full day planned out. Nope, I can't just have a free day of peace and resting, maybe some packing, you know, before I LEAVE THIS COUNTRY FOR A WHOLE YEAR! But that's Grandmere, I guess. I won't lie, I'm actually kind of nervous about tomorrow. I mean, who knows what's going to happen? I guess that's what makes it so exciting._

          Sighing, but this time with delight, Amelia closed the journal, sliding it into the purse that she'd be carrying for the day. Her journal always went everywhere with her. With a spring in her step, Amelia walked towards her bathroom, picking up the clothes that Grandmere had laid out for her on the bed. A pink jacket and matching pink skirt, with pink high heels dyed to match the jacket and the skirt. Amelia nearly gagged. Imagine this, when she moved to America, she'd be able to even go out shopping and buy her own clothing, without Grandmere's approval needed. The thought brought a smile to her face. She'd finally be able to wear jeans and t-shirts!

          Ever since Amelia could remember, Grandmere had controlled every aspect of her life. Grandmere decided what Amelia wore, Grandmere told Amelia everything to say. Grandmere wrote all of Amelia's speeches. Grandmere decided how Amelia would wear her hair every day. Grandmere decided on all of the boys that Amelia would date. Grandmere even told Amelia what to eat. 

          And now that Amelia was sixteen, she was sick of it. She needed her freedom. She needed to be on her own. Amelia wasn't the average princess. Other princesses were satisfied with the lives that they had – knowing that other people were jealous of them because they lived in castles and wore the prettiest dresses to balls, made by their own fashion designers. She knew that there were other, different things to experience in the world. She wanted to buy her own clothes and go to concerts, phone her friends just to talk and gossip. She wanted to be a normal girl. Amelia had always been envious of those normal girls who weren't princesses, girls who got to make all their own decisions in their lives. It was time for Amelia to assert her independence.

          **SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, ****8:45 PM**

          _I can't wait to get out of here!_

_          I'm finally going to be free. _

_          Today was like hell. Grandmere is really beginning to get on my every single nerve. Today I had to attend a press conference and answer tons of questions about how I'm moving away and stupid things like that. I'm sick of everyone asking me and me having to give them a subdued answer like a good princess would. I'm so excited I can hardly breathe, that's the truth. _

_          And then we had a farewell party. Which really wasn't that bad. It was actually kind of fun. Rene was there. And I won't really miss him. But can you imagine? Next year, I'm going to be attending high school dances! Not balls and fancy parties with governments and royal families. High school dances with normal high school kids._

_          I wonder what my mother's going to be like. I mean, I've never met her. I hope she likes me. And I have a stepfather! And a stepbrother. His name is Rocky. Which I think is pretty awesome. Are they going to ask me to babysit him? I can't wait to meet my brother. And I can't wait to meet my mother. I wonder what the apartment they live in is like. I guess I'll find out soon enough._

_          I'm kind of nervous about making friends there, though. What if the other kids think I'm a freak because I'm so freakishly tall and underdeveloped? I look like a twelve year old. Not a sixteen year old sophomore. Not to mention that I've got the weirdest hair. It's the ugliest colour ever and Grandmere won't let me dye it. Princesses don't dye their hair. And I've got a bodyguard. They're going to think I'm the weirdest girl they've ever seen. _

_          I'm making myself really, really anxious._

_          Anyways, it's __8:45__ at night and I've got to be up tomorrow morning at __5:30 AM__ to take the Royal Genovian jet to __New York__. Imagine my utter distaste this morning when I realized that Grandmere and Lars are both coming tomorrow. Well, Lars is alright. And I knew that he'd be coming. But Grandmere?! She told me this afternoon at tea. She's going to help me get adjusted. Hopefully, she'll be gone in a week. Or less. _

_          I can't wait to finally start living my own life._

Biting at her manicured fingernails, Amelia shut her diary and shoved it into a bag that laid on the floor next to her bed, making sure to remember that she'd be taking that bag with her on the plane tomorrow morning when she left the palace. Turning off the lights, she pulled the silk sheets over her tired body and shut her eyes. These manicured fingernails would be the first thing to go.

          Amelia hated manicures.


	2. i'm ready, i am

**Author's Notes:** So, this chapter's kind of boring. I promise, they're going to get better after this. I had to establish the whole Amelia moving to New York and meeting her family thing, and that was what this chapter and the first chapter was for. The next chapter will be the one where Amelia has her first encounter with people her own age, including Michael. I don't know whether or not to make Michael younger and have him be a senior and only two years older than Amelia (because she's a sophomore in this story) or keep him as a freshman in college yet, so I'm going to be deciding that before I write the next chapter.  I think I'm leaning towards making him a year younger and having them two years apart, so Amelia would be sixteen and Michael eighteen. 

Throughout the whole story, I am going to do the third person narration thing, but there will also always be a journal entry or two by Amelia in each chapter. I like mixing her perspective with a third person perspective. And we won't be calling her Amelia throughout the whole story. Somewhere soon along the line someone's going to call her Mia, so then we'll stick with that and ditch this whole 'Amelia' thing. 

I also used the uniform that the Grove High School students wore in the Princess Diaries movie. I'm also taking Michael's appearance from Robert Carmine's in the movie, just as a reference for you guys if you like to have an image of the character in your minds, but I'm writing Mia as if she was Meg Cabot's mostly. And Lilly will also have the same appearance as she did in the Princess Diaries movie.  

If anyone's actually even reading this, I hope you enjoy this chapter and keep reading this story.. Feedback would so be appreciated. 

___________________________

          Amelia slept on the plane all the way from the Genovian airport to the airport that the private jet landed at in New York City. She awoke only when Grandmere shook her shoulders in a rather rude and hurried fashion. It was mid-afternoon in the city, and the sun was shining down through the windows of the airplane. Outside, Amelia could see fat flakes of snow falling slowly to the ground.

          She would have been angry with Grandmere by the rude awakening she received, but she was too excited to meet Helen Thermopolis, her mother, Frank Gianini, her stepfather, and Rocky Thermopolis-Gianini, her stepbrother. To finally see where the other half of her family lived, to see where she'd be living for the whole next year.

          Quietly, Amelia followed Grandmere down the stairs of the jet and onto the concrete runway that the plane had landed on. Grandmere quickly pulled a hat out of her purse and placed it on her head carefully and Amelia followed, doing the same, telling herself in the back of her mind that she'd be free of Grandmere in a very, very short amount of time.

          Amelia reached into her bag and her fingers fumbled around, trying to find the soft leather cover of her diary. She needed to make sure that she'd brought it with her. She liked having it everywhere with her, just for the comfort of it. The diary was almost like a familiar friend to Amelia. Needless to say, she hadn't had a lot of friends in Genovia. Sure, she knew some princesses and some princes from other European countries, but it wasn't like the friendships that most sixteen year old girls had. 

          And she certainly didn't have a boyfriend.

          No, that was something Amelia only dreamed about. Sure, there was Rene, who loved to flirt with Amelia shamelessly. But he really just liked to flirt with girls in general; it wasn't an exclusive-to-Amelia thing. And there were other flirty princes her own age, at all those endless parties that Amelia attended as a part of her duties. What Amelia wanted was something real. A guy who really, honestly liked her. For her, and not her tiara or her title. Or her father's net worth of three hundred million dollars. 

          Of course, it didn't help that she was freakishly tall. There was a fair number of boys her own age who were actually shorter than her. And she had terrible hair that reminded most people of dirty dishwater in color. Eyes the colour of a dirty grey sidewalk. Amelia rolled her eyes. Life could be so depressing sometimes.

          **SUNDAY, JANUARY 16 ****3:30 PM******

_Well, here I am. _

_          I'm in __New York__ now, in the limo with Grandmere and Lars. They're arguing about how terrible the flight was. I think Grandmere's actually considering firing the pilot. Which Lars is trying to talk her out of. It's not his fault it was snowing like crazy and there was tons of turbulence because of it. _

_          We're heading to the apartment in __Greenwich Village__ where my mother lives. My mother. I'm finally going to meet my mother. Dad told me she's an artist. He said she's beautiful, petite and pretty with long, curly black hair. So I guess I didn't get my looks genes from her. And it's going to be weird having a brother. There's never really been anyone but me my whole entire life. Dad and Grandmere only ever paid attention to me. Except when my little cousins were around. But this isn't really the same as that. He's my brother. I wonder if my stepfather will be my algebra teacher. I hope not. Gosh, I'm bad at algebra. It would be really, really embarrassing._

_          I'm totally not going to lie. I'm so nervous about meeting Helen._

_          Or should I call her Mom? I mean, I've never even met the woman._

_          But she IS my mother, for goodness sake._

_          I'm not going to school tomorrow. Apparently, the students are writing final exams until Tuesday, and then the semester changes and everyone gets new classes and new teachers and all that. So I'll be starting with them, I guess. But still, everyone knows each other and now I'm this weird new girl._

_          So, school is postponed until Wednesday. And I can't lie about this, I'm not really that disappointed. I've had this constant butterflies feeling in my stomach for the past week. New situations suck. Seriously, nothing good is going to come of this. Nothing._

_          Other than the fact that I'm not going to be under Grandmere's watchful eye for the next year._

_          I hope my mother likes me. I hope the new kids at school like me. What if my little brother hates me? What if my stepfather algebra teacher thinks I'm the stupidest girl he's ever met and then I end up in his algebra class at school?_

_          Life is SO stressful._

"Amelia?" Grandmere's cold voice broke Amelia's thought. "It is very bad manners for you to be writing like that when I am trying to carry on a conversation with you. If you ever paid attention to anything, like a good princess should, you would have realized that we are parked in front of your mother's apartment and we are waiting for you to leave the car so that we can go get you settled." 

          "Yes, Grandmere," Amelia answered, automatically. Pulling her bag out behind her and slinging it over one shoulder, she stepped out of the limo and tripped over the curb, falling flat on her knees on the cold cement. 

          Grandmere pursed her lips in distaste. 

          Lars simply chuckled and extended a hand to Amelia, helping her up. Amelia tried not to glare at Grandmere in a too obvious fashion.

          And then, Grandmere turned and began to walk up to the door to Helen Thermopolis' apartment. Amelia slowly followed, dragging her feet in the slushy, dirty snow that laid on the concrete sidewalk, Lars slightly behind her, carrying a few of Amelia's suitcases. The rest had been sent over in the weeks prior to Amelia's arrival in the United States and were waiting for her inside this ordinary looking upscale loft apartment building.

          The ride in the elevator was silent. Amelia had no words to say to Grandmere, and Grandmere in return kept silent, presumably realizing that Amelia was not feeling up to talking. Sometimes, Grandmere fell into the marginal category of understanding Amelia's feelings and needs. Amelia appreciated this.

          They stood in front of a door marked with a large brass number three on it. Grandmere, knowing that Amelia would not take charge of the situation, took matters into her own hands and knocked twice loudly on the door, flashing a slightly apologetic look at Amelia as she lowered her hand from the door.

          The door swung open moments later, and a woman with long, curly black hair stood in the doorway. She had a young toddler at her bare feet, clinging to her paint-splattered jeans. Appearing slightly flustered, she adjusted her plain white t-shirt and ran her hands through her hair, which was tied back with a colourful piece of fabric. 

          Amelia drew herself up to her full five feet and eight inches, lifting her head. She pasted a smile on her face, fighting to ignore the butterflies that twisted her stomach into knots. 

          There were a few more moments of silence. And then, Helen Thermopolis reached out and wrapped her arms around her sixteen year old daughter, pulling her towards her gently in a soft hug that she'd waited for sixteen years to share with Amelia. Amelia could feel soft, warm tears fallen from her mother's eyes on her shirt, and she knew that tears were also forming in her own eyes. 

          "Oh, Amelia," Helen said, softly. "I'm so glad you're here." 

          And that was all she had to say, because that was all that Amelia needed to hear.

          Amelia smiled. "Mom, it's so nice to finally meet you."

          With that, Helen unlocked Amelia from their embrace and stepped aside to welcome them all into the apartment. As Amelia stepped inside, wiping the tears from her moist gray eyes, a smile began to spread itself across her face. This place was amazing. It was open and modern. There were beautiful paintings all over the place. Works in progress lying against the walls. Amelia could smell fresh cookies coming from the kitchen a few feet away.

          "Wow." Amelia said. "This place is seriously, seriously awesome." 

          Grandmere raised her eyebrows. "It's hardly a decent place to raise a princess. Even if it's only for a year."

          Amelia rolled her eyes. "Grandmere, don't be such a downer. Mom, I think it's beautiful. I'm going to love staying here with you." She smiled at her mother. Now that she'd arrived and met Helen, it had seemed ridiculous to call her mother by her first name. She was surprised at how natural it sounded to call this woman her mother.

          Resignedly, Grandmere closed her mouth. 

          Helen smiled at Amelia. "Thank you, Amelia."

          Amelia felt a tug on her leg and she found her stepbrother, Rocky, gazing up at her in wonderment with big, blue eyes that Amelia immediately wished that she had. She smiled down at him. "Hi, Rocky, I'm Amelia." 

          He responded by holding up a plastic car that he had been playing with and saying "Car."

          Helen laughed, and Grandmere laughed politely. "I'm your sister," Amelia continued. 

          "Sister," he echoed, and grabbed her legs in an attempt to hug Amelia. 

          **SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, ****8:45 PM******

_America__ is so awesome._

_          I honestly don't even know what to say about it! My mother is sooooo great. After I met my mom and Rocky and saw their fabulous apartment, Frank came home from the store with some groceries and I met him. And he's a pretty cool guy. He said I'll be in his algebra class next semester. Oh, joy._

_          My room is amazing. Much better than my room in Genovia. I mean, the room in Genovia's nice. But it was designed by Grandmere, of course. And it's always spotless and perfect. It hardly even looks like anyone lives in it. The room here will be so personal. I've decided that I'm going to go out tomorrow and buy tons of new clothes and new things to put in my room. Lars is also staying here, in the guest room. The apartment is fairly large._

_          I'm sitting out in the living room area in a big stuffed chair right now. Rocky's playing on the floor and Mom's sitting on the couch next to me with Frank, and we're all watching a movie on this channel called 'Lifetime' that I've never seen before. But it's a pretty good movie. I think I might like this channel. _

_          Grandmere's gone to the hotel for the night because there's no room for her to stay here. Besides, she was all taken aback when we got here that I was actually going to live here for a year. I don't think this is like she envisioned that it would be. Me, well, it's better than I thought it would be. _

_          My school uniform came today. It's blue. Blue skirt, light blue shirt, blue necktie thing, dark blue jacket. Black shoes. I'm not too excited about the whole school uniform thing, seeing as I had to wear one at my school in Genovia. But on Fridays at __Albert__Einstein__High School__ you can wear whatever you want. And the most peculiar thing is that I have a physical education uniform. It's a blue zip up jacket, a light blue t-shirt and blue shorts. In Genovia, we never did physical education class. I wonder about this._

_          Tomorrow I'm going out for breakfast with Mom, Frank, and Rocky. We're walking to a restaurant down the street. Lars will, of course, be accompanying us because I can't really go anywhere without him. I think it's going to take some getting used to for Mom and Frank. _

_          The movie's getting really, really good. _

_____________________________


	3. i was a kaleidoscope

**Author's Notes:** So I think this chapter's a little bit more exciting. At least, I hope it is. HUGE thanks to all of you who've reviewed so far! I absolutely love getting feedback on what I write. It's not necessary but is very much appreciated. In this chapter, Amelia has her first encounter with Lana Weinberger and Josh Richter. And she also befriends Lilly Moscovitz and Boris Pelkowski.. AND she has her first encounter with a certain boy we all know and love! But she doesn't know it's him yet. She'll actually meet him soon. And next chapter is the chapter where we will drop the whole Amelia thing and start calling her Mia. 

I'm not sure if the format of this is getting a little bit confusing. Bold titles in capitals are the dates of diary entries. Italics underneath them are the entries themselves, but I leave the dialogue Amelia writes in the entries un-italicized. Diary entries end when the italics stop. The names of the characters saying the dialogue in a diary entry is bolded. If it's too hard for you guys to follow, please let me know. I'm not sure about it. 

And I'm sorry about the awkward spacing-ness. I'm not sure how it does that, it always looks fine in Word when I write it, but then it uploads funny and puts big spaces where there aren't supposed to be spaces. I don't know..

I hope you guys like this one. It's a little longer. I wanted it to be shorter, but I wanted to include everything that I did in this chapter and not have to break it into two smaller chapters. Feedback would be very much appreciated. Happy reading!

___________________________

**[TUESDAY, JANUARY 18 ****10:00 PM****]**

          _School starts tomorrow._

_          I've had a blast these two past days, shopping and going out for meals with Mom, Frank, and Rocky. Lars comes with us, of course, but I think Mom and Frank are getting accustomed to it fairly well. It's so wonderful to finally feel as if I really belong somewhere like I belong with them. Grandmere's going home in a few days and I don't think I could be any happier. I don't think I'll miss her at all this next year. She'll be visiting once every month for a few days, though. Just to check up on me and make sure I'm still fit to be a princess. She needs to keep her eye on me. Or so she says. It's not like I'm going to do anything crazy, though. _

_          I'm nervous about starting school tomorrow. I know I've said this all before, but I'm so nervous that the other kids are going to think I'm a total freak. Last night I had a huge fight with Grandmere. I asked her if I could just maybe go to school alone and not have to bring Lars. The other students will think I'm weird enough already – the fact that I'm a freakishly tall and underdeveloped sophomore – without me bringing my bodyguard everywhere with me. She flat-out refused and I, stupidly, argued her on it. _

_          I should know by now that when I argue with Grandmere, I never, ever win. _

_          What was I thinking moving to __America__? _

          The next morning, Amelia was awake before her alarm went off. She had tossed and turned all night, trying desperately to sleep but every attempt failed, and as a result she knew that she'd be blotchy and puffy that morning. Great. Just what she needed on her first day at her new school. 

          Pulling her uniform clothes out of the closet, she trudged into the bathroom and got in the shower. After shaving, washing and conditioning her hair, she dressed in her uniform and brushed her teeth. She then blow-dried her long blonde hair straight and applied some quick mascara and pink tinted lip gloss. 

          Sighing, she stared at herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of her door. For once in her life, Amelia looked like a regular girl, not the princess of a small European country. This was completely what she had wanted ever since that day that they told her she was a princess, wasn't it? 

          Amelia pasted a fake, empty smile on her face and then headed down the hallway to the kitchen, where her mother and Lars waited, gigantic smiles on both their faces. They lit up even more when they spotted Amelia's smiling face. Wow. The fake smile was a winner. Who'd have thought?

          "Honey!" Helen greeted her daughter with a hug. "Are you super super excited for your first day of American school?"

          Amelia tried to sound enthusiastic, but it came out completely wrong. "Yes."

          "Oh, Amelia," her mother said, a look of concern overtaking her face. "Are you nervous, sweetie?"

          She tried to lie. "No, not really." And from the look on her mother's face, she knew that her mother hadn't bought it. "Yeah. I'm very nervous. Should I be? I mean, is there really anything to be nervous about, or am I just being totally and completely silly? Because, I mean, I do that all the time. Worry for no reason, I mean. I don't know. I'm just really afraid that no one will like me and they'll all think I'm a huge freak because I'm a princess." 

          Helen took a deep breath, obviously taken aback by Amelia's sudden outburst. "Don't worry. You'll be fine." She patted Amelia's arm reassuringly. "Lars is ready to take you in the limo. We've made all the arrangements with the principal at Albert Einstein, but do you want me to come with you, too? Just as reassurance. I wouldn't mind."

          Amelia smiled gratefully at her mother, but shook her head. "I need to do this on my own." 

          And with that, she followed Lars out to the waiting limo in front of the apartment building. She sat in the back by herself while Lars drove, and was quiet the whole way to school. Her mother's words echoed in her head. _You'll be fine. _She had sounded so certain. Amelia just wished that she could have that belief in herself.

**            [WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 ****9:30 AM****]**

          _I made it to school alive._

_          I'm HERE!_

_          There's a lot of totally cute boys at this school. Not that any of them would be interested in me, of course, but still. They're amazingly good looking. And there's a cute guy with blonde, surfer-esque hair that has the locker next to mine. He's very, very cute. His name's Josh Richter. I overheard one of his friends calling him that. But he's a senior, I think, and he reminds me of this really gorgeous prince I met in Genovia that was a total and complete jerk. So I guess that's kind of a turnoff. _

_          Right now, I'm sitting in my history class. Everyone is staring at me. Well, maybe not everyone, but it sure feels as if they are. Gosh, this is way more awkward then I'd imagined that it would be. The teacher introduced me to the class this morning. In front of EVERYONE. I felt as if I wanted to melt into the floor. _

**Teacher:** Class, we have a new student at school today! Please welcome Amelia Thermopolis Renaldo. She's the princess of the small European country of Genovia. Amelia, please stand up. 

_          What choice did I HAVE in the matter? I couldn't just refuse to stand up. So I did. And then people started talking._

**Girl (I think her name was Lana) with perfect, pretty long blonde hair and gorgeous boys sitting around her, the girl who's dating the guy with the locker next to mine (of course he'd have to be dating a perfect girl like her – nothing is EVER fair in this world we live in): **Ew, who'd actually make her princess of their country? What kind of country is it, a country full of freaks?

**Her friends: **(laughter)

          _How utterly and completely embarrassing was that? And then the teacher heard that comment, so of course she had to defend me. And now she's droning on and on about European history, and I, of course, know all of this. Grandmere made me learn about it. She says that when you're a princess, knowing about the history of the world is important. Mostly, I just found it boring. But I guess it's coming in handy now, because I already know all this stuff the teacher's saying._

**[WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 ****12:00 PM****]**

_It's lunchtime now. I made it through my whole history class alive. And algebra really wasn't that bad, I guess. Frank, or Mr. Gianini, as I'm supposed to call him during school hours, didn't pick on me or anything. So I guess I'm sort of lucky. He said after class that he'd help me with some stuff that I don't quite understand if I wanted to, which would be a relief. _

_          After history, I was walking out in the hallway down to my locker, and this guy totally bumped into me. I spilled my papers and my pens all over the floor. So I went to pick them all up and I'm leaning down and I'm turning all red and blushing like I always do whenever something embarrassing ever happens to me. _

**Boy: **I'm so sorry for bumping into you like that. 

          _He handed me a pen. At this point, I looked up at him, and I found myself looking into the most beautiful deep brown eyes I've ever seen. And of course, me being who I am, I didn't say anything. I just turned an even deeper shade of red, if that's even possible. I'm not sure if it was. But if it had have been a possibility, I would have. Anyways, so he's handing me this pen. So I took it from him, and he continued to help me pick up my things._

**Me:  **Thanks.

**Boy: **No problem.

          _And then he smiled, looking straight into my eyes. I noticed what beautiful, amazing teeth he has. At this point, we had finished picking up all my stuff and he stood up. There was an ordinary looking brown haired girl standing about a few feet away that I hadn't noticed at all during our whole awkward exchange, and she was tapping her foot impatiently. The nice boy who helped me pick up my books turned away from me and towards her. _

**Boy:** Sorry about that, Judith. I'm coming. 

_          I guess Judith's the girl who was watching us. The boy starts walking towards her. She was smirking and as the boy who helped me pick up my books walked towards her, she reached out her hand and grabbed his with hers, and then they walked off towards the cafeteria together, hand in hand. And he left me standing all alone by myself, holding all the papers that I'd just knocked over in all my clumsy princess glory. _

_          Three cheers for Princess Amelia._

Amelia finished her lunch and snapped her diary shut, throwing it into her messenger bag carefully. Next class was called "Gifted and Talented" and Amelia had absolutely no idea what on earth it was for or what she should bring. Sighing, she headed off to her locker to get a book to read and a notebook, just in case.

          And of course, Lars followed her. 

          Reaching the G & T classroom, she walked in and discovered that there was no one there yet. She sat down in a desk by herself and pulled her diary out of her bag, placing it on her desk carefully. She also pulled out the book she had brought, and the pen that the boy had picked up off the floor for her earlier. 

          She opened her book and began to read, as other students began filing into the classroom. First to join her was a boy clad in a sweater vest and carrying a violin case, along with a short, pug-faced girl with short black hair that was tied back in a few messy ponytails who was carrying a large textbook. Those two sat down at the table in front of Amelia and began talking quietly to each other.

          A few more students walked in. Amelia noticed that they were not only sophomores, but freshmen, juniors, and seniors as well. Nervous, she turned back to her book. Unable to concentrate, she looked up a few minutes later to see the boy who bumped into her in the hallway and his beautiful brown hair, perfect smile, and pretty brown eyes walk in and sit down across the classroom from her. 

          The teacher still hadn't joined the class yet, and Amelia couldn't help herself from staring at the boy. She became so focused on staring at him, that she didn't even notice when the girl with the pug-face and short black hair turned around and began to speak to her.

          When Amelia finally shook herself out of her reverie, she noticed that the girl was staring at her and waiting for her to speak. "Oh, uh, hi?" Amelia said awkwardly, her voice tripping over the words. 

          "Hi," she answered back, with a friendly smile. "Are you new here? I'm Lilly Moscovitz." She extended her hand to Amelia, and Amelia shook it tentatively. The girl seemed friendly enough. 

          "Yeah, I'm new. I'm Amelia," she paused. "Thermopolis." She decided against using her royal family name and instead, opted to use her mother's name. Something about it just felt so much more right. 

          "Oh, you're the princess one. We've heard a lot about you lately," she answered. "This is my boyfriend, Boris Pelkowski." Lilly gestured to the boy sitting beside her, who was playing the violin that he had been carrying earlier. "Boris, this is Amelia Thermopolis. That princess girl from Genovia."

          Boris set down his violin for a moment and turned to face Amelia. "Nice to meet you," he said, in an awkward sounding Russian voice. 

          The teacher still hadn't come into the class, and Amelia was beginning to wonder what was going on. Glancing in the boy who had picked up her pen's direction, she noticed that he had opened up his books and was beginning to write furiously, his dark hair falling in his eyes. Turning her attention back to Lilly, who was waiting patiently for Amelia to respond, she asked. "Where's the teacher? I mean, what exactly is this class, even?"

          "Gifted and talented," answered Lilly, as if it was obvious. "It's a class for people who are just that – gifted and talented. Our teacher hardly ever comes to class. Her name's Mrs. Hill. You'll probably meet her sometime next week. She comes to class about that often. We've been in this class since last semester, so everyone here already knows everyone. You're the new girl." She paused to take a breath. "Who's this guy?" she asked, nodding her head in Lars' direction. He sat beside Amelia silently.

          Amelia's cheeks reddened. "He's my bodyguard. He goes with me everywhere." 

          "Oh, that's cool," Lilly answered. She seemed to be utterly unbothered by this information. "So, who have you had the pleasure of meeting so far at this lovely institution of learning, or so they call it?" She smirked.

          "Nobody's really talked to me so far. You and Boris are the first to introduce yourselves. I guess everyone else just thinks I'm weird. My locker's next to this boy named Josh Richter's. Tall, kind of has that surfer look going on?" Amelia said, pausing.

          "Josh Richter. Otherwise known as the most popular guy in school. Many girls would also say that he is the hottest. He's dating a sophomore. Lana Weinberger, one of the biggest jerks in school and also one of the most popular girls, probably as a result of the fact that she's dating Josh. These two belong to the A-crowd. They think they're all that." Lilly answered, a knowledgeable tone present in her voice. 

          "She made fun of me in history class today," Amelia said, not knowing why she was actually telling this Lilly girl all of this. Somehow, Lilly just seemed trustworthy. And friendly. And she didn't even care about the fact that Amelia had a bodyguard. 

          "Yeah. That sounds Like Lana. She makes fun of everyone who's not in her crowd." Lilly said. 

          Amelia decided not to mention the boy that she had bumped into in the hallway to Lilly, for some reason. It just seemed like something she'd rather keep secret. She wasn't completely sure why. Looking up at him, she saw that he had stopped writing and was holding his pen in one hand and gazing off into the distance with those beautiful deep brown eyes. 

          Amelia bit her lip.

**            [WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 ****9:45 PM****]**

          _My first day of school was hell. ABSOLUTE HELL._

_          Okay, I'm over-exaggerating that a little bit. Actually, I'm exaggerating that a lot. Because in all actuality, it really wasn't that bad. It could have been worse. I could have done something totally and completely embarrassing, but luckily it didn't go to that extreme. I guess there's always tomorrow for that, though. _

_          Actually, it was alright. I'm glad I met that girl, Lilly Moscovitz. Her boyfriend, Boris Pelkowski, is kind of weird. He's a total mouth breather, and the whole sweater vest thing's a little bit on the strange side. Apparently he's a really talented concert violinist, as Lilly told me. But Lilly seems like a really nice girl. It's actually been a long time since I've met someone that nice like that. She seemed totally genuine._

_          In my Biology class fourth period, after G & T, I met this other guy named Kenny Showalter. We're biology partners and he kept talking to me all class long about something called anime. I'm not quite sure what anime is, but Kenny tried to explain it to me and I think it's some sort of Japanese cartoon thing. Sounds like a total snooze. But I guess he was nice enough. Sort of geeky. But hey, at least I've got someone to talk to in that class now. And when he wasn't talking about anime, he was talking about either science fiction or this thing he's in at school called Computer Club. _

_          Lilly actually invited me to hang out with her on Friday night. We're going to have a sleepover at her apartment, and I'm totally excited. Another friend of hers who goes to AEHS, Tina Hakim Baba, is also coming. Apparently, she also has a bodyguard because her father's the owner of some huge oil corporation and they have tons of money. _

_          So school isn't going that badly. I actually have friends._

_          The boy who picked up my pens and papers, the boy with the beautiful brown eyes and perfect smile is still a complete mystery, however. Oh, gosh, who am I kidding? I have to push all thoughts of him out of my head. First of all, he's beautiful and he'd never even know that I exist. And second of all, that Judith girl. His girlfriend._

_          At least I get to stare at him while we're in G & T. Judith's not in that class._

_          Three cheers for the fact that I actually made it through my first day at __Albert__Einstein__High School__!_


	4. something vague

**Author's Notes:** Huge thanks to everyone who's reviewed this so far. I really, really appreciate feedback. I'm not sure if I really like this chapter that much. It's a lot of dialogue and not a lot of Mia's diary writing. If anyone's worried about Michael and Judith dating, please don't worry. I have a plan. It will all work itself out. 

I hope you guys like this one!

___________________________

**[THURSDAY, JANUARY 20 ****4:00 PM****]**

          _Today was the weirdest day on earth._

_          Well, maybe that's over exaggerating a little bit. Maybe it wasn't the weirdest, but it was definitely up there. The morning went fairly uneventfully. I got made fun of by Lana Weinberger in history this morning again, but that was almost to be expected. And then before that she and Josh Richter, (her senior boyfriend who has the locker right next to mine) were making out right in front of my locker. It was completely and totally disgusting._

_          Maybe it wouldn't be if it were me, though. I think it was just the Josh and Lana factor. _

_          Algebra was uneventful. I'm not really sure what happened, though, because I mostly tuned Frank, I mean, Mr. Gianini, out. Algebra's not really that important anyways. I didn't get to see the boy from yesterday who helped me pick up my papers all morning. _

_          So then at lunch, I was walking off to the cafeteria by myself and Lilly Moscovitz caught up to me and she invited me to sit with her at lunchtime. Thank goodness, I didn't have to sit all alone by myself with Lars again. That would have been beyond humiliation. So I went with Lilly and we sat down with Boris, Tina Hakim Baba and her bodyguard, Wahim, and another girl named Shameeka. Tina and Shameeka both seemed pretty nice. Tina reads a lot of romance novels. She's slightly chubby, but still pretty. Her father has a ton of money. Shameeka's gorgeous, and a cheerleader. Nevertheless, she's still somewhat of a geek. I will never understand high school._

_          Over across the cafeteria, I spotted him. Yes, the beautiful boy who picked up my books yesterday. He was sitting at a table a few tables away from mine. With Kenny Showalter and that Judith girl, whose last name is Gershner, as I learned from Kenny yesterday. She's actually the president of this computer club that Kenny's in, and she can clone fruit flies. _

_          Hmph. So the cutest boy I've ever seen is dating a girl who clones fruit flies for fun._

_          LIFE IS NOT FAIR._

_          Other than the fact that I now have friends to eat lunch with, nothing else even remotely uneventful happened at lunchtime. After lunchtime, Lilly, Boris, and I headed off to G & T together. Tina and Shameeka aren't in G & T. Yet again, the teacher failed to show up and so I sat and talked to Lilly all class. _

_          And I stared at the cute, completely unattainable boy a little bit. Just a little, though. I can't help myself._

_          Biology was where the day started to go really, really weird. _

_          I had a conversation with Kenny. My Biology partner._

**Kenny**:  So, hey, Amelia. What are you doing this Friday night?

**Me**: I'm having a sleepover with Lilly Moscovitz. Why? 

**Kenny**: Oh, I just wondered if you wanted to uh, maybe, oh, never mind.

_By now, I'm completely intrigued, and I wanted to know what he was going to ask._

**Me**: Why, Kenny?

**Kenny**: Oh, I was just wondering what princesses do on the weekends for fun, that's all.

          _Fine.__ If he wants it to be like that, I don't even care. _

_          And then we proceeded to do our biology homework. I really, honestly, don't care what he was going to say. It was probably nothing, anyways. He's kind of weird, that Kenny. I'm not so sure about him sometimes._

_          Tomorrow's my first ever sleepover!_

Frantically, Amelia ran around the apartment. Helen smiled from her position on the couch. 

          "Need some help with anything, Amelia?" She asked, an amused tone in her voice.

          "Mom, I have absolutely NO idea what to take on my sleepover!" Amelia wailed. 

          Helen got up from the couch and walked over to the bathroom where Amelia stood. "Take your toothbrush and toothpaste. You'll want some clothes for tomorrow. Underwear, socks, different pants, a different shirt. Don't forget your hairbrush. I'll go get you the sleeping bag, you might also want to take a pillow of your own just in case." 

          Amelia was clearly overwhelmed. "Can you make a list of that, Mom?"

          In response, she laughed. "You'll be fine. Don't worry about it so much, it's not life and death. It's just a sleepover, Mia." 

          "Mia?" She asked. 

          Helen blushed. "I'm sorry. I just always imagined that when I had you, if you had have actually lived with me, I would have always called you Mia. I'll call you Amelia if you'd prefer that." 

          "No, it's fine. I like it better than Amelia, actually." Amelia smiled. "Grandmere called me Mia until I turned six. But then once they told me I was a princess, they said I needed a more suitable name and they started calling me Amelia because it was more formal. But I've always felt as if Mia fit me more, somehow." 

          Helen wrinkled her nose. "Amelia's so old-lady." 

          Mia smiled. "I know! But you don't tell Grandmere what to do, if you know what's good for you."

          Her mother nodded, and she gave Mia a brief hug. "I'll go get that sleeping bag for you."

          Half an hour later, Mia's backpack was packed with all the sleepover essentials, and she waved goodbye to her mother as she got in the limo. Lars would be driving her to the Moscovitz's residence, but he wouldn't actually be staying over. Mia had left Lilly's phone number with her mother, along with her address, just in case. And Helen had insisted that Mia take her cell phone so that she could reach Mia if it was needed. 

          Mia stared out the window as the limo rode smoothly over the pavement en route to Lilly's apartment. Lilly didn't live that far away, and the limo was parked in front of the building in less than ten minutes. Mia sat there for a moment, and took a deep breath. This was going to be great! Grabbing her things, she slid out of the limo and slammed the door, waving to Lars as she walked up to the building.

          She rode the elevator alone up to the sixth floor where Lilly's apartment was. Mia stopped in front of the door with the number twenty-six on it – the address that Lilly had given Mia today in G & T. Pausing for a moment to collect herself, she reached up slowly to ring the doorbell. Seconds later, she could hear footsteps approaching the door, and Lilly's face popped out. 

          "Hey, Amelia!" Lilly said, picking up one of Mia's bags. 

          "Hi, Lilly," Mia answered. "I've actually decided that I'm going by Mia these days, though." She smiled. 

          "Oh. That's cool, Mia." Lilly had began walking into her apartment, so Mia followed, dragging her backpack behind her. The apartment was huge and furnished with expensive looking things. "My parents are psychoanalysts," Lilly explained, as if she could read what Mia was thinking. "I think they're just psycho, though."

          Mia laughed. 

          "Tina's already here. We're just going to go put this in my room." Lilly continued walking, and opened a door, flinging Mia's sleeping back onto her bed. "My crazy parents are out tonight. So it's just us here for awhile." She turned around, grinning at Mia. She then took Mia's backpack from her and dropped it on her bedroom floor, shutting the door behind her. 

          "So what are the plans for tonight?" Mia asked eagerly. 

          "I thought we'd watch some movies in my living room! How do you feel about the older Star Wars movies? Tina doesn't like them much, but I don't really care. Last week she made me watch two different romantic comedies when I slept over at her house, so this week was my week to choose." Lilly smiled, almost evilly.

          Following Lilly, who was presumably walking to the Moscovitzes living room, Mia responded. "I like Star Wars. The older movies are the best ones, without a doubt." 

          Lilly looked surprised. "I totally didn't think you'd have watched them." She looked somewhat guilty. "I mean, with you being a princess and all. It just seemed kind of weird to assume that you were actually a normal person. Is that so terrible?"

          Mia shook her head. "No. Everyone always assumes that I'm something special. But I'm not really."

          Lilly laughed. "Sure you are." She flopped down into a big chair, and Mia sat down beside Tina, who had buried her nose in a romance novel, on the couch. "So let's get these movies started!"

          "Let's not," said Tina, teasingly. "Hey, Mia. I'm not really that into science-fiction all that much."

          "Newsflash, Tina, nobody cares!" Lilly said, a gleeful tone in her voice. 

          Tina faked a pouting expression, and then the three girls all laughed. 

          Mia enjoyed sitting there with her new friends. This was something new to her. Usually, whenever she watched movies in Genovia, she did it at home in her bedroom when everyone else had gone to sleep. She'd never actually watched movies with company before and been able to comment on what was taking place on the screen before her with people. Surprised, she found that it was something she really enjoyed.

          Lilly liked to make silly voices and imitate the characters on the screen, and it made both Mia and Tina laugh uncontrollably. 

          Before Mia knew it, they had became bored with the movies and turned off the television. 

          Tina grinned. "Now that we've spent three hours watching Lilly's movies, I think we should play truth or dare!" 

          "Tina, you've got to be kidding me. That game is so juvenile. And you always want to play it. Every single time we have sleepovers." Lilly sighed. "Mia, do you want to play truth or dare?" She turned to face her, wide eyed and shaking her head vigorously, as if she were willing Mia to say no to Tina.

          "I've never played it before," Mia admitted. "I didn't really do this sort of thing back in Genovia when I lived there." 

          Mia could hear the door to the apartment open and shut, footsteps walking around somewhere away from the living room. She looked at the clock. One in the morning. Obviously, Lilly and Tina weren't paying any attention to it, so she ignored it and thought that maybe it was just the Drs Moscovitz coming home for the night or something. 

          "Well, then. We have to play it! Everyone's got to play this game at least once in their lives," Tina decided, an air of authority lending itself to her voice. "I'll start. Lilly, truth or dare?"  
  


          Lilly sighed. "Truth, I guess. If I have to."

          Tina smiled devilishly and her eyes became thoughtful. "I've got one. What is your most embarrassing memory?" 

          Lilly rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "This game is so kindergarten. I guess that would have to be back when I started preschool and Michael was in the first grade. We were fighting one morning before school started out on the playground because he wouldn't give me back my crayons, and he spit his bright green gum in my hair and I didn't realize it until I went into class and all the kids were laughing at me because I had green gum all over my head. The teacher had to cut all the gum out of my hair and I had a bald spot for weeks after that until all the hair grew back."

          Mia laughed. 

          "You laugh now, Mia Thermopolis, but back then when I was in preschool, it was so entirely not funny at all." Lilly frowned. "And now, I get to ask you!" She clapped her hands together, a delighted smile taking the place of the frown on her lips. "So Mia, what will it be? Truth or dare, princess?" Lilly joked, smirking slightly. 

          Mia thought about it, and decided that she didn't really want to talk about anything that personal. Who knew what they would ask her to say. "Dare, I guess." 

          Lilly and Tina looked at each other, grinning. Tina leaned over and whispered something in Lilly's ear and Lilly's eyes widened, a smile forming itself on her face. "Tina, you're good!" Lilly exclaimed when Tina finished whispering in her ear. They both giggled. "This is totally kind of immature, but I think it will be fun. Come with me." 

          Lilly got up from her position on the chair, and Mia obediently stood up also. Tina followed behind the two girls, giggling. They headed up the stairs and back to Lilly's room. Lilly pulled a blanket out of a drawer and tied it around Mia's neck as if it were a cape. She then took a pair of socks and placed them on Mia's hands, pulling them up to her elbows. 

          Mia stared in wonderment, but didn't ask any questions.

          Tina then grabbed a pink wig out of Lilly's closet and placed it on Mia's head, giggling as she looked at the results. Lilly's face was serious, and suddenly, remembering something, she dug into another of her drawers and pulled out a huge pair of polka dotted pants. Smiling, she handed them to Mia. "Put these on," she instructed, and Mia complied.

          So there she stood, wearing a blanket as a cape, clown pants, socks on her hands pulled up to her elbows, and a pink wig on her head. Lilly and Tina looked at each other and smiled. "Now," Lilly instructed, keeping a straight face, "I want you to go out in the hallway and run up and down it, screaming as loud as you possibly can." 

          "But won't that wake people up?" Mia asked. 

          "Nobody important," Lilly said, shrugging. 

          Tina giggled.

          Mia opened the door, and Lilly and Tina stuck their heads out, giggling as they waited. She took a deep breath, and then began to run crazily up and down the hallway, flapping her arms all over the place, running into the walls, and screaming nonsensical words at the top of her lungs. The camera flash went off and Mia didn't even care that her friends were taking pictures of her and laughing. 

          She turned to face them and smile, ripping the wig off her head and the socks off of her hands as she did, in triumphant glee. Lilly and Tina laughed uncontrollably. As she turned around, eyes closed in relief, she threw her wig over her shoulder and stepped forward to retrieve the pink wig, bumping into something strong and warm as she did. 

          Quickly, Mia opened her eyes and found that her gray eyes were staring back into a pair of startled deep brown eyes. And her hands, complete with manicured fingernails, were resting on the soft, warm skin of someone's strong shoulders. 

          Mortified, Mia jumped back in surprise. She tried to get out the words to apologize, but she couldn't. She simply stood there, staring. And then she realized who it was standing right in front of her. His inquisitive gaze into her eyes had shifted, and his brown eyes were focused on the hardwood floor somewhere around his feet.

It was the boy who had bumped into her that first day of school. The boy who was sitting with that Judith girl, the boy who'd held hands with Judith Gershner, the girl who cloned fruit flies. The boy with the perfect smile, the beautiful brown eyes, and the perfect shaggy dark brown hair that fell in his face in the most perfect way possible. And he was standing in front of her, shirtless. SHIRTLESS. In Lilly Moscovitz's apartment at one thirty in the morning. What was wrong with this picture?

          She turned bright red, and stepped back quickly. Somehow, her fingers found their way to her blanket-cape and she untied it quickly, wishing her fingers wouldn't stumble so much. The blanket fell to the floor and she nervously ran her hands through her blonde hair. 

          "I think this belongs to you?" He said, smiling at her in an amused sort of fashion, handing her the pink wig that he had obviously caught when she threw it over her shoulder haphazardly. 

          Mia grabbed it from his hands, her cheeks burning, and turned to see if her friends were still standing in Lilly's doorway, but they had disappeared. "I'm really sorry," Mia said, finally finding the words to speak. What on earth was going on here? 

          "It's no problem," he answered, quietly. "I've seen you before, haven't I?"

          Mia nodded, embarrassed. "Hallway, at school."

          "Oh, yeah, I knocked you over. I'm sorry about that and all. I was kind of in a hurry. I had a computer club meeting," he explained, the expression on his face soft and cheeks slightly flushed a light shade of pink. "By the way, are you okay?"

          "Yeah," Mia answered, unable to give him more than one word answers. She was still unsure as to what he was doing in Lilly's apartment at such a late hour. 

          He smiled at her, and Mia thought she might melt right there on the floor outside the door. "I'm Michael Moscovitz."

          Mia looked at him. So his name was Michael. That still didn't explain what he was doing in her apartment at this hour.

          "Lilly's older brother," he continued.

          Mia felt her jaw drop.

After a few moments of silence, Mia realized that he was politely waiting for her to respond. "I'm Mia Thermopolis," Mia stammered nervously, her cheeks still flushed a bright red. How come Lilly hadn't said anything about having an older brother? (An absolutely beautiful older brother, at that.) Mia was going to kill Lilly. "Lilly never told me she had an older brother. We were just playing truth or dare, which was what I was doing. That's what I'm doing wearing these insane pants. I'm really not crazy. I'm sort of Lilly's new friend." She paused, taking a shallow, lengthy breath of air in.

          "Nice to meet you?" Mia finished, lamely. 

          He laughed, and shrugged his bare shoulders. "Lilly likes to pretend that I don't exist. Are you new at Albert Einstein, then?"

          Mia nodded.

          "I guess I'll see you around there sometime, Mia Thermopolis," he said softly, and with a shy smile, retreated back into his bedroom and closed the door quietly behind him. Mia tried not to watch his back as he departed. 

          What had just happened?


	5. you can't stop

**Author's Notes:** I'm glad, also surprised, that people are actually reading this! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far.. This chapter's a little shorter than the previous few. There's going to be a LOT more exciting action in the next chapter, so I'll be posting that one sometime in the next few days. Eventually, this is going to be Michael-Mia, of course, but I thought I'd take a fun way to get there. It might take them awhile, but that's the fun part. I hope I'm putting enough fuzzy moments in there for you guys. If there's anything you'd like to suggest or criticize about my story, I'd really be glad to hear it!

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. 

Thanks again for all the awesome reviews!

**[SATURDAY, JANUARY 22 ****3:00 AM****]**

_ I'm sitting in Lilly's apartment's bathroom right now. After my encounter with Michael in the hallway, I went back down to the living room to yell at Lilly for the following reasons:_

- _She didn't tell me she had a brother._

- _She didn't tell me her brother was gorgeous._

- _She lied to me when she said no one else was home._

- _She.._

_Well, I don't know what else she did to make me mad, but am I ever mad. Those are good enough reasons, anyways. I just humiliated myself in front of her absolutely beautiful older brother. I mean, he saw, not to mention heard, me running around in the halls, screaming. Dressed in the weirdest clothes I've ever worn. _

_But anyways, she was asleep, so I'll have to save the yelling at her thing for tomorrow morning. Preferably when Michael's not around to see me freak out all over again. _

_And now, he's probably going to laugh at me every time he sees me at school. He'll probably even tell that Judith girl he's dating, so that she can also laugh at me. I bet they're in love. I wish I was in love. I wish Michael was in love with me. I need some serious therapy for this. I'm going to KILL Lilly!!_

_But Michael has a really, really nice chest. _

_Not to mention those eyes. And that perfect smile. _

_Who am I kidding?_

Sighing, Mia opened the bathroom door and trudged down the hallway back to the living room, grabbing a blanket and a pillow and throwing them on the floor, closing her eyes and wishing that this day would end already. She had had enough humiliation in the past two hours to last her entire life. 

The next morning, Mia awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside. The living room, pitch black when she had gone to sleep last night at three fifteen in the morning, was bathed in late morning sunlight. Mia sat up, confused, looking around frantically. Lilly and Tina were nowhere to be found. Their blankets and pillows were gone. 

Not knowing what to do, Mia got up from the floor and walked into the kitchen, still wearing her pajamas – a fitted white t-shirt, along with cropped light blue cotton pants. She sat down at a chair at the Moscovitzes large, rectangular, wooden table, placing her head on her hands, rocking herself back and forth slowly and silently. Where on earth had her friends gone?

"Am I interrupting something?" A deep, male voice interrupted Mia's thoughts, and she quickly looked up to see who had perpetrated the silence. 

Michael. He was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, wearing a white t-shirt underneath a bright red Death Cab for Cutie t-shirt, along with a pair of faded blue jeans and a black belt with a silver buckle. His hair was messy, as if he'd just woken up, but it was as cute as ever. Mia shivered. How could someone look so great without even trying?

He could look amazing in his school uniform. He also looked equally as good, maybe even better, wearing normal weekend clothes. He looked amazing without a shirt. Michael had some serious style in a cute, geeky sort of way, Mia thought to herself. She instantly felt silly and young in front of him with her unbrushed hair and simple pajamas.

"No, not really," Mia answered, trying to sound calm and collected. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to make it look at least a little bit presentable. 

He smiled, and pulled out the chair across from her, sitting down in it. "Lilly and Tina went to the store about half an hour ago. They should be back soon," he said nonchalantly, not looking into her eyes. He reached out a hand and ran it through his dark brown hair, messing it up with his fingers. "Do you want some breakfast or anything?"

"No, thanks," Mia replied. 

"Suit yourself," said Michael, and he rose from the chair gracefully. Mia watched as he walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, pulling out a carton of orange juice, and pouring himself a cup. He then grabbed the cup and walked back over to the table and sat back down. He began to drink his juice in silence.

Mia stared at the table, tracing an invisible design on the polished light brown wood with the tip of her index finger. Moments later, she looked up, feeling Michael's eyes on her. Surely enough, he had been looking at her, and her gray eyes met his deep peat-bog brown eyes when she took a glance over at him. His expression was thoughtful, and Mia longed to know what was on his mind.

"Are you in my G & T class?" He broke the silence. "Because I thought I saw you there one day."

She nodded. "Yeah."

"For a princess, you seem fairly normal," he remarked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Though the clown pants you had on last night were a little bit out of the ordinary."

Mia blushed, completely against her own free will. "Who told you I was a princess?"

He bit his lip. "Mrs. Hill told us that the princess of Genovia was going to be joining our class before you came, last semester. It's kind of big news in our school when anything different happens, because nothing interesting really ever happens there. And since no one else new came, I figured that you must be the princess she was talking about." 

"Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Princess of Genovia. That's me," Mia said, with an almost bitter tone lending itself to her voice.

Michael, noticing the tone in her voice, looked slightly taken aback. "Sorry for mentioning that. I don't think before I talk sometimes."

_So perfect boy had a flaw.__ Amazing._ "Don't apologize. It's fine," Mia answered. "I've just been trying to forget the fact that I'm a princess ever since I got here. All I really wanted when I moved here, aside from meeting my biological mother, my stepfather, and my stepbrother, was to be a normal sixteen year old girl, you know?" She paused for a second. "Never mind, you don't. That was a dumb question."

Michael looked sympathetic. "Yeah, but I can imagine it's been hard for you." He took one last gulp from his glass, and then got up from his chair to put it in the dishwasher. "Are you going to be okay to wait around here for Lilly and Tina to come back? They should be back anytime now, seeing as they left half an hour ago and all." 

Mia nodded. "I'll be fine."

Michael nodded, seemingly waiting for something. "Okay." He ran a hand through his hair, looking away from Mia's eyes and down towards the floor. "I have a thing, with this girl... that I have to go to." He sighed, muttering some indecipherable words underneath his breath. "Otherwise, I'd stick around and hang out with you until Lilly and Tina came home." 

At that moment, Mia heard the front door to the apartment open, and Lilly and Tina walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Mia!" Lilly said brightly. "Sorry about leaving you with my pathetic brother, we just thought that we'd let you sleep while we went out to get some lunch."

Michael rolled his eyes. "This pathetic brother's out of here, Lilly," he said, picking a pair of car keys up off the kitchen table. 

"Good," Lilly replied. "Have a nice _daaaaaaaate_ with Judith," she continued, in a sing-song voice. She then turned around, and her and Tina began to put the groceries away. 

Mia looked over at Michael, who hadn't actually left yet. He was standing in the doorway, and as she turned around, he looked right back at her, smiling. Mouthing a silent goodbye to her, he turned and left. Mia heard the front door shut once again, and she knew he'd gone out. 

Mia sighed, placing her head in her hands again. So it was a date, this _thing he had to do with this girl. _A date, with his girlfriend, Judith Gershner, the perfect girl who could clone fruit flies. And Mia couldn't even manage to pass algebra. She had failed a test last week, and she knew it was a valid indicator of the unfortunate way that the rest of the course would go. 

For goodness sake, her algebra teacher was her STEPFATHER.

And she still couldn't pass one dumb test. 

Lilly turned back to face Mia. "Do you want some lunch?" 

Mia had almost, almost forgotten her anger at last night's events. Lilly seemed to have forgotten that the previous night had taken place at all. She seemed to have forgotten how humiliating an experience it must have been for Mia. "When were you planning on telling me that you had a brother?" Mia demanded, quite uncharacteristically for her.

Lilly shrugged noncommittally. "I didn't figure that it was important at all," she said. "And it isn't. Is a peanut butter and jam sandwich on white bread okay?" She retrieved a knife from a drawer and began to slather peanut butter all over a slice of bread. 

"I'm not hungry, but thanks." Mia replied. "And no, I guess it's not that important. It's just that I made a huge fool of myself in front of him last night when we did that truth or dare thing. And then you guys totally just abandoned me, so I didn't even know how to explain it to him. He totally thinks I'm insane."

Tina flashed Mia a weird look and sat down beside her with a peanut butter and jam sandwich of her own.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "It's just Michael, Mia. He's nothing special. Believe me, I know. He's insane himself. I'm sure he didn't think anything of seeing you running around in stupid pants." She sighed theatrically, placing a sandwich on a plate and sitting down across from Mia in the chair that Michael had just vacated. 

Tina laughed. "If it was _me_ in Mia's situation last night, I would have been totally embarrassed too, Lilly." 

Mia shot Tina a grateful look. "At least someone here knows what I mean."

"Sure I do," said Tina. "Michael's hot," she finished nonchalantly with an innocent smile on her slightly chubby face, shoving a bite of her peanut butter and jam sandwich into her open mouth. 

Mia jumped up from the table. "That's not what I meant, Tina, and you know it!" She said, indignantly. "I don't think Michael's hot."

"Suit yourself," Tina answered, smirking. "I would have been totally embarrassed if someone as fricking hot and amazingly good looking as Michael had seen me dressed like that and acting that strangely."

"Tina! I don't think Michael's hot!" Mia said, her voice squeaking slightly. She crossed her arms defensively over her chest, frowning.

"Can we stop talking about my _ugly_ computer obsessed completely weird total freak of a brother yet, guys? I'm trying to eat my lunch." Lilly frowned. "Mia, I'm sorry if it embarrassed you that much. We really didn't know that Michael was home. I thought he wouldn't be home at all last night. I wouldn't have done that to you if I had have known that he was home. And even when he is home, he hardly ever comes out of there. My parents are sometimes afraid he might be building bombs or something. Nobody knows what he does in there. He's totally weird."

Mia smiled. "It's fine, Lilly."

"You know what else is fine, Lilly? Your brother, Michael," Tina said, grinning.

Lilly groaned. "Shut up, Tina."

**[SUNDAY, JANUARY 23 ****9:20 PM****]**

_ Grandmere__ left today, about three hours ago, to my relief. I won't have to see her at all for the next month. This is almost like a dream come true. So anyways, now things are going to get to normal around here, with Grandmere gone and me settling in at home and getting to know Mom and Frank and adjusting to school._

_ I think school's going to be okay. Lilly, Tina and I get along really well. Other than the fact that Lilly neglected to tell me that her brother was the god I kept seeing in school all over the place, I think she's a really cool girl. Well, Michael would probably think I was a freak anyways, even if the first time I met him wasn't when I was wearing clown pants and a bright pink wig, seeing as I'm a five foot nine vegan flat-chested sixteen year old princess._

_ My life is completely sucking._

_ I wonder how Michael's date with Judith went. I wonder why he didn't just tell me he was going out on a date with his girlfriend. Trouble in paradise, maybe? No, that's not it. He probably just didn't tell me because he knows that freaks like me can't get dates and he felt bad, like telling me he was going out on a date would have been rubbing it in my face and all. _

_ So aside from being beautiful, he is one of the nicest people I've met here so far. _

_ I wonder how Lilly didn't inherit the good looking gene like Michael did. I haven't seen the Drs Moscovitz, but one of them is probably fairly good looking, since they turned out a son like Michael. Lilly's not really that pretty. She kind of has a smushed-in face, like one of those really ugly dogs. I feel kind of bad for her. _

_ But then again, she has a boyfriend. And I DON'T!_

_ Life is so UNFAIR!_


	6. lonely day

**Author's Notes:** A lot of weird stuff takes place in this chapter. I don't know if I like it that much, that's why I took a little bit longer to put it up. Michael is a little bit out of character as he was in the book in this chapter with the whole hallway PDA thing with Judith, but I figured that wasn't a really, really big deal.

I want to hear about what you guys want to see in this story, so suggestions as to where the plot can go are welcome. I haven't totally decided where I'm going with this and I have about a million and a half ideas of things that could happen, so I'm curious as to which direction you guys think I should go.

And I promise that there will be a point to the whole Michael-and-Judith and Kenny-and-Mia thing sometime.

Next chapter I'm hoping to have more Lilly, Tina, Boris, Kenny, and Michael.

If you like it, please review!

* * *

It was Monday afternoon, after lunchtime, and Mia was sitting at the usual table in G & T class beside Lilly Moscovitz. Next to her sat her boyfriend, Boris Pelkowski. The couple was involved in a serious discussion about the violin concert that Boris had taken part in that weekend. Mia didn't want to interrupt, so she simply sat with her books closed on top of the table. Propping her head up on one of her arms that laid on the desk, she proceeded to stare carelessly into space.

She didn't even notice when someone sat down on the other side of her and opened their books.

"Michael!" Lilly yelped. "What are you doing sitting over here with us? You don't belong here," Lilly finished accusingly. She had turned away from Boris to question Michael on his choice of seating arrangements the moment her brother had sat down next to Mia.

Mia instantly shook herself out of her thoughts the moment she heard Lilly speak to Michael, who, upon Mia's glance to her right, was sitting in the chair next to hers. She instantly felt a shudder go through her body. He was sitting right there beside her, less than a foot away from her. Mia blinked.

"Thanks for making me feel so welcome here, Lilly," Michael answered, his tone one of indifference.

"You're **not** welcome here, loserface," Lilly retorted.

Michael rolled his eyes. "You're so juvenile sometimes."

Lilly scowled, and turned back to Boris.

Hesitantly, Mia smiled at him.

He smiled back at her, slowly. "Do you mind if I sit here?" He asked, quietly, so that Lilly wouldn't overhear.

"No," Mia answered, shaking her head.

Michael flipped to a blank page in his notebook that laid on the desk, and picked up a pen that sat beside it, and began to write furiously, his dark brown hair falling into his eyes. Mia's eyes wandered around his naturally tanned left arm, exposed by the fact that he had rolled up his light blue long sleeved button up collared uniform shirt's sleeve, which was laying about four inches away from her own right arm. The regulation light blue plaid tie hung loosely around his neck, his dark hair dusting the tie at the nape of his neck.

Mia wondered what he was always writing. Did he have a journal? It would be so cute if he had a journal like she had a journal. She wondered if it was almost like his friend like it was hers. Or maybe he wrote poetry. How cute was that? Mia thought for a second. If he wrote poetry, maybe it was love poetry. Love poetry for Judith, his _girlfriend_. She shuddered. No. It couldn't be poetry, not for Judith.

Sighing to herself, Mia opened up her algebra textbook and stared at the words on the page. None of them were actually getting through to her right at the moment. She couldn't help it, not when Michael's godliness was seated in the chair right next to hers, about a total of twelve inches away from her own.

**[MONDAY, JANUARY 24 ****4:00 PM****]**

_KENNY ASKED ME OUT!!!!!!_

_ Yes. That's right. Kenny "I'm-a-dork-who-likes-Japanese-anime-and-I'm-in-the-Computer-Club" Showalter asked me out. ME. OUT ON A DATE. HE WANTS TO GO OUT WITH ME ON A DATE. Who'd ever have thought anyone would ever want to go out on a date with me? I'm this total freak. And to top that off, I'm a princess. _

_ Never mind the fact that I don't like Kenny that way. I don't like anime or science fiction, both of which are his passions. I couldn't really bring myself to say no. Sometimes, I'm just too nice. He sounded so nervous and so terrified that I just couldn't bear to say no to him. And he's a nice guy. He lets me copy his Biology homework, because I always get all the questions wrong. _

_ I totally wouldn't object, though, if a different Computer Club geek asked me out. Namely, Michael Moscovitz._

_ But he's not really a geek at all. Well, I guess he is. But he's an attractive geek._

_ Kenny is okay, I guess. He's nice enough._

_ We were sitting in Biology, and, well, here's how the conversation went. _

**Me:** I'm not really sure how this works, Kenny. Can you explain it for me?

**Kenny:** Huh? What? Oh, sorry, Mia.

**Me:** Are you okay, Kenny?

**Kenny:** Well, no. See, I have this friend. And he likes this girl. He really, really wants to ask her out on a date.

_At this point, I'm wishing his friend was Michael Moscovitz, and that Michael wanted to ask ME out on a date. Really, really._

**Me: **So what?

_I'm totally insensitive. _

**Kenny:** I.. I mean, uh, he, he doesn't know how to ask her.

**Me:** He should probably just ask her, straight out. There's always a fifty-fifty percent she'll say yes.

_Kenny was silent for a minute, with this thoughtful expression on his face. He muttered under his breath to himself and everything. Meanwhile, I'm thinking that we should really get back to this Biology business. I didn't want to take all my homework home with me. _

**Kenny:** So, uh, Mia.. I'm sort of asking about this for myself.

_ I'm totally confused. What? Oh. He wants to ask a girl on a date. Boy, was I ever wrong. Not just any girl, no. _

**Me: **Yourself?

**Kenny: **Mia, I really like you.

_ And I'm speechless. WHERE ON EARTH DID THIS REVELATION COME FROM? Meanwhile, Kenny's staring blankly at me and waiting for me to speak. He'll be waiting awhile. I don't really have anything to say to that. It's not like I can say, "Kenny, I like you too." Which is probably what he wants. I'm not much of a liar, though. It seemed like forever until he answered, finally realizing I wasn't going to say anything. I couldn't say anything._

**Kenny: **So, uh, I guess what I'm trying to say is, would you go out on a date with me?

_By now, you'd think I was expecting that, right? Wrong. This is me we're talking about. Of course I didn't expect him to ask me out on a date. So I was completely, completely blown away. And my first instinct is to say no and let him down gently, telling him I don't really like him that way. But no, I'm not really like that. I had to do the nice thing. I couldn't break his heart. He's a nice guy. _

**Me: **Sure, I guess so, Kenny.

_I swear, he started beaming.__ What have I gotten myself into? _

_ Oh, never mind, I know the answer to that. Now I'm going to have to spend a few hours alone with him on Friday night, watching Star Wars at the local theater downtown. I like Star Wars alright, so I guess that will be okay. It's just that the company isn't really preferable. Don't get me wrong, I know Kenny's a nice guy. It's just that I don't really like anime or science fiction. But I guess it's better than going by myself. _

_ Why am I such a pushover?_

Mia shut her diary, sighing. At that moment, the telephone rang. Mia got up off of her bed and went down to the kitchen. Frank, her mother, and Rocky were nowhere to be found, so she picked up the kitchen extension. "Hello?"

"Mia!" said the voice on the other end of the line. "It's me, Lilly."

"Hey, Lil," Mia answered. "What's up?"

"Boris just told me you're going out on a date with Kenny!" she exclaimed. "Is it true? Boris says Kenny asked you today in biology class. I can't believe you didn't tell me on the way home! Why didn't you tell me you liked Kenny?"

"Yeah," Mia answered. "It's true. We're going to see Star Wars on Friday at the theater."

"Oh, really? Boris and I are going to that too," Lilly replied. "How long have you liked Kenny?"

Mia stalled, unsure how to answer. Truth be told, she really didn't like Kenny that way, or any way, for that matter, at all. "I don't really know Kenny," she answered, her voice unsure and stumbling over the words. "I mean, he's a nice guy, but we haven't really talked a lot except in biology class. He seems nice. And he likes me."

Lilly noticed this, to Mia's dismay. "What's your problem? Last week, you told me you wished you had a boyfriend. Now you've got this guy who wants to be your boyfriend and even asks you out on a date, and all of the sudden, you're not interested anymore? What's up with you, Mia?" She asked, in an accusing tone of voice. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Mia sighed. She had hoped that Lilly would have been blissfully ignorant to the way that Mia was acting about her impending date on Friday night. It's just that Kenny wasn't really the right guy. Not for Mia. "There's nothing to tell, Lilly," she said, not voicing her thoughts. She knew Lilly would laugh if Lilly knew that Mia had a small crush on Lilly's perfect older brother. He was a senior. He was perfect. And he had a girlfriend. There was no way that Lilly could find out about this. "I'm just tired. I'll see you tomorrow at school," she finished, hanging up the phone after Lilly said a hurried farewell.

The next morning at school, Mia walked over to her locker listlessly. She had been up all night, worrying and thinking about her date with Kenny on Friday, and the fact that Lilly was beginning to suspect that something was up with her. Was Mia really that transparent? She shook her head, her long, straight blonde hair grazing her cheeks.

And then she saw it. Michael Moscovitz and Judith Gershner, the happy, perfect couple. They were standing in the middle of the otherwise empty hallway facing each other a few feet away from Mia's locker, their hands clasped together, and their bodies less than six inches apart. Mia sighed. Michael had a small smile on his face and he was gazing into Judith's eyes, and she was laughing slightly, her eyes gazing right back into Michael's.

Michael leaned in to close the small distance between their faces and kissed her lips gently, his eyes closed and the smile still etched onto his lips. Judith leaned into Michael, wrapping her arms around his neck and playing with the hair at the nape of his neck with her fingers. After what seemed like forever, Michael pulled away from Judith and let her go. Smiling at him, Judith walked away. Michael stood there, staring at her back as she walked away.

What a way for Mia's day to start off.

Mia stood in the middle of the hallway, watching their affectionate display and wishing that she could melt into the floor and rise up again as Judith Gershner, just so that she could be the perfect Michael Moscovitz's girlfriend. Realizing that Michael was now standing in the middle of the hallway a few feet away with his back turned on Mia, she rushed to her locker and fumbled with the lock.

As she piled her books into her locker furiously, someone came up from behind her and wrapped their arms around her waist. "Good morning, Mia," said a familiar male voice.

Mia nearly screamed.

She whipped her head around and smacked her head with the head of her unexpected, overaffectionate assailant. He groaned, and she pushed the hair out of her eyes and found herself staring back into the eyes of Kenny Showalter, who was now clutching his head and grimacing. "Geez, Mia, you've got one heck of a hard head."

What an idiot. Mia rolled her eyes. "Kenny, you don't just do that to someone! I wasn't expecting that."

Kenny looked confused. "But we're dating now, aren't we? Isn't it okay that I do that?"

Mia shook her head. "I wasn't aware that you were to be known as my boyfriend. Are you?"

Kenny shrugged. "You said yes when I asked you to go to Star Wars with me on Friday. I thought that meant you liked me back." He looked even more confused, and a sad smile replaced his pained grimace. "Do you not want to date me? I thought you wanted to be my girlfriend," he continued, in a small, defeated tone of voice.

That was it. Mia couldn't bear to break his heart, and he looked so sad. "No, Kenny, that's not it."

Kenny smiled eagerly. "So, you'll be my girlfriend, then?"

Mia forced a smile onto her face, telling herself not to hurt him. Kenny was a nice guy. "Yes."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Michael strolling over to her locker, a look of confusion etched on to his face. So she and Kenny weren't the only confused ones this morning, apparently. Michael stopped and stood beside Kenny, across from Mia. "Hey Kenny, hi Thermopolis," he said. "I didn't know you guys knew each other." He looked from Kenny to Mia and back again. "Kenny and I are in the Computer Club together," he explained to Mia.

Mia began to speak, but she was interrupted by Kenny. "Actually, we're dating," Kenny said proudly, throwing his arm around Mia's shoulders. "We met in Biology class last week. And I asked Mia to go to see Star Wars with me this weekend. So now, Mia's my girlfriend! Isn't that right, Mia?"

Mia flashed a weak smile at Michael, who looked even more confused. "Yeah," she echoed emptily.

Kenny clutched Mia's hand briefly and smiled at her. "I have to go to my locker before my physics class. See you at lunchtime," he said, walking away in the direction of his locker. "Save me a seat beside you at your table!"

Then it was just Mia and Michael. Completely and totally embarrassed, Mia grabbed her bookbag off of the floor and continued to shove her books into her locker. However, Michael didn't leave, and Mia wasn't sure why he was just standing there, shifting his weight from foot to foot and staring at his shoes thoughtfully. He looked perfect in his school uniform. A vision in blue and... darker blue.

"So," he started. "You and Kenny are really dating?"

Mia faced him and sighed. "Yeah. We are."

Michael laughed, but it came out sounding completely forced. "Don't sound so enthusiastic, Thermopolis."

"I'm just tired," Mia protested. "Kenny's a really, really nice guy. I like him a lot." _Just not as much as I like you._ Picking up her books for her history class, she began to walk away from Michael. "I have to go to history."

He quickly caught up with her. Hesitantly, she turned her head to look at him and saw that he was smiling slightly. "I'll walk you to class?"

He wanted to walk her to class. Mia couldn't help the smile that spread itself across her face. "Don't you have a class to go to, though?"

In response, Michael shrugged. "I've always got time to walk my friends to class," he said, smiling at her.

Mia felt a tingling sensation spread throughout her body as he smiled at her. This was so wrong. And now, Kenny was her boyfriend. Mia liked Kenny, she really did. He was a nice guy. A little bit dorky, maybe, but Mia didn't mind his dorkiness. And was kind of an awkward guy to be around, but all in all he was a nice guy. And he, unlike Michael, actually liked Mia.

"Thanks, Michael," she said, managing to smile back at him.

"What's wrong, Thermopolis? You don't seem yourself this morning," Michael said, as Mia rubbed at her tired, downcast eyes with her free hand. "Do you want to talk about it? I'll skip my calculus class if you want and we can hang out in the courtyard. I don't really want to go anyways. And you look like someone who needs a friend right now."

Mia smiled. He was so sweet to offer. "That's okay, Michael. I'm just not having a really great day. I'll be fine," she said, nodding her head earnestly. "And I really do have to actually go to history class." What was Mia, crazy? Would she really, really rather go to history class than hang out with the guy she was in love with? She sighed, knowing that she couldn't skip class.

He didn't look convinced. "Okay, but remember that if you need to talk, I'm here for you." He looked down at the floor. They had stopped walking, right outside of Mia's history classroom. Lana Weinberger, in a cloud of blonde hair and sickeningly sweet perfume, pushed past Mia, rolling her eyes as she did. "And I mean, Lilly is too. You can always count on her. You're one of her best friends now. I know she's often busy with Boris, though, so if she's not there you can always talk to me."

Wouldn't Michael be busy with Judith? She was his girlfriend, after all. "You're such a good friend, Michael. I'm glad I met you," she said, sincerely.

Michael smiled down at the floor. He was avoiding her eyes. "Yeah," he said, echoing her sincerity. "I have to go to calculus. See you later," he said, turning around quickly and walking in the direction of his math classroom, his hands jammed into the pockets of his navy blue uniform pants.

Mia sighed, and turned to head into her history classroom.

She was a little bit late, and the only empty seat was beside Lana Weinberger, since her equally sickening entourage was not present that day. Mia walked over and sat down, pulling out the chair quietly, hoping Lana wouldn't notice her and look up from her lip gloss application process.

Lana flashed her a haughty glare and smirked at her. "You know, Princess Freak Mia, Michael Moscovitz already has a girlfriend. He's totally taken." She tossed her long blonde hair. "Judith Gershner? She's the smartest girl in school, and she's also a senior. Just like Michael. Do you really think he's going to leave her so he can be with you? He's just taking pity on you simply because you're his disgusting little sister's new best friend."

Mia glared at her. "For your information, Lana, I have a boyfriend. And Michael and I are just friends." Even though Mia wished they could be something more.

Lana flipped her hair over her shoulder, smirking. "He's a total computer geek anyways. Talk about a ten on the ew-factor." She raised her perfectly tweezed eyebrow. "Your boyfriend is Kenny Showalter, I heard. He's an even bigger computer geek than Michael. A fifteen on the ew-factor, at least. And he's not even a senior." She shrugged. "Mind you, he's a total freak and a half, just like you. So I guess you guys are a match made in heaven."

Mia rolled her eyes at her and opened her notebook. She began copying down the teacher's notes off the board into her book and ignored the fact that Lana was talking at Mia about how much hotter and better her boyfriend, Josh Richter, was than Kenny Showalter and Michael Moscovitz combined.

For all she cared, Lana could just fall through a hole in the floor and hopefully, never be seen ever again.


	7. the luckiest

**[THURSDAY, JANUARY 27 ****9:00 PM****]**

_ Lana's right._

_ Michael IS just friends with me because he feels sorry for me. I've been thinking about this all week (what can I say? It sort of stuck with me) and I've come to the conclusion that there's no other reason he's being nice to me besides the fact that I'm Lilly's new friend. And maybe he feels sorry for me because I'm such a flat-chested weird princess. _

_ The other day Michael volunteered to tutor me in algebra. He sits beside me every day in G and T now. One of my tests was sitting on my desk and he saw it. It was the test I got a completely failing mark on and he asked me about it. I told him how awful I was at algebra. And then, the most awesome thing ever happened. He offered to tutor me in G and T with my algebra, since he's so good at it. _

_ MICHAEL IS TUTORING ME!_

_ Okay, so maybe it makes me feel kind of stupid that he's so amazingly smart and I'm so exactly the opposite. But I'm willing to overlook that fact, because when Michael tutors me, I get to sit next to him at a table by ourselves and listen to his beautiful voice all class long. And I'm totally not complaining about that, even if it is listening to him talk about polynomials, not his deep, undying love for me. And when I sit next to him, I can smell him. _

_ Michael has this awesome, clean scent I just can't describe._

_ He smells like soap, the fresh air outside, laundry detergent, and something absolutely indescribable – but something completely Michael. He is perfect. Sometimes, when he tutors me, he puts his hand right down right next to mine and I can practically feel myself blushing due to his close proximity. Then, when I understand something, he'll turn to me and smile. _

_ However, Michael is the most obsessively organized person on earth. I wonder how he lives like that._

_ Tomorrow is my DATE with Kenny. I still can't believe I'm going on a date. I guess it is just with Kenny, who's kind of a little bit of a dork. But he's a nice dork, and he is my boyfriend, no matter how much I hate to admit it sometimes. He's better than having no boyfriend at all. Although sometimes, when he tries to kiss me, I reconsider that and I think it might be much nicer to be single than to have to kiss him. _

_ So far, I've been able to avoid meeting his lips with mine, but I don't think that will last much longer. _

_ I am going to need some serious strength to get through our date tomorrow._

On Friday, the date was all that Mia could think about. On one hand, it was an awesome thing – her first real date, ever. She'd been out with guys before, but always boys that Grandmere found appropriate and set up all the arrangements with. Those didn't count. They'd never meant anything at all and it wasn't like she was actually interested in any of those boys. On the other hand, she wished it was with someone other than awkward-and-geeky-but-nice Kenny Showalter.

"Mia?" A voice interrupted Mia's thoughts. "Earth to Mia! Hey, Thermopolis, is anybody home in there?"

She shook her head slightly and focused her eyes to see that Michael was sitting there beside her, a twinge of annoyance present on his gorgeous face. Mia felt her cheeks heat up. She'd totally been zoning out while Michael was trying to teach her something in algebra while they sat in G and T. "Sorry, Michael. What were you saying?"

Michael raised an eyebrow. "Before or after you fell asleep while I was talking?"

Mia was completely embarrassed. "Polynomials?" she guessed.

"Mia, that was Tuesday," Michael said, seriously. He was really cute when he was serious. "This is Friday, and if you really want to raise your algebra marks, you should stop thinking about your boyfriend and concentrate on me and this algebra problem here," he said. Mia thought she detected an air of sarcasm present in his tone when he told her to stop thinking about her boyfriend.

"Really, Mia, am I that completely uninteresting to you?"

_No! _Mia shouted in her mind. Truthfully, she'd really honestly rather concentrate on Michael Moscovitz than Kenny Showalter, but it wasn't like she could tell him that.

* * *

Kenny's clammy hand grasped Mia's tightly, his eyes focused and squinting at the screen in front of them. She was sandwiched in between Lilly and Kenny, with Boris on Lilly's other side. She shifted in her seat, moving closer towards Lilly, but Kenny was already so close to her that he almost wasn't sitting on his own seat.

She wriggled her fingers, trying to loosen his tight grip on hers. Her fingers were beginning to go numb. This definitely, without a doubt, was not the way Mia had hoped that her first date would go. She had always dreamed of her first real date as being something special, with someone she really liked, someone who was perfect for her, someone she'd be dying to kiss goodnight.

Mia would rather die than kiss Kenny goodnight.

He looked over at her, smiling. Mia caught his eye and flashed him a weak smile back. Unfortunately, he noticed the lack of enthusiasm in her face, and he mouthed the words, "what's wrong, Mia?" at her, his eyes concerned. He moved closer to her.

"Nothing," she whispered. "I'm just not feeling so well, that's all."

"Let's get out of here, then," Kenny suggested, pulling on her hand as he stood up. "I'll walk you back to Lilly's house. She and Boris can just come when the movie's over."

Mia nodded, and did as Kenny suggested. And then, she left the theater with Kenny, who still was gripping her hand like she'd float away into the clouds if he even let go for a second. Mia didn't like Kenny's sudden bout of possessiveness.

The January New York air outside the theater was cold, and Mia shivered.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kenny asked. "Are you cold? Because if you need my jacket, I'll give it to you," he offered.

Mia shook her head. "Kenny, I'm fine," she insisted. "I'm just tired."

Kenny looked at her suspiciously, and they walked the rest of the way to the Moscovitz residence in complete silence.

Awkward silence.

Kenny rode up in the elevator with Mia, and walked her to the Moscovitzes door. He stood there awkwardly as Mia rooted in her bag for the key that Lilly had given her when they had left the theater early, but she couldn't find it in her bag, and so she rang the doorbell. And then, as they were waiting for someone to come open the door, Kenny coughed awkwardly.

Mia hoped that the Drs Moscovitz were home, and that they'd rescue her from the sheer horribleness of this situation she was in at the moment. No such thing happened in those next few things, however, and Kenny took a step closer to Mia. Mia tried not to take a step backwards, and she succeeded. She breathed in deeply, her eyes not wanting to meet Kenny's.

That didn't matter, of course, because Kenny, as usual, was much too clueless to take a hint. Mia looked up at him, quickly, and she saw that he'd closed his eyes and was leaning towards her, slowly, his lips gently parted.

Mia was petrified.

She couldn't get her feet to move. She was completely sure she was going into shock. When Kenny's eager lips met Mia's, she silently gave in, and closed her own eyes. This wasn't so bad, seeing as she couldn't see who she was kissing. Maybe if she just pretended it was Michael, it would be fine. The thought of Michael and her kissing brought a smile to her lips, and Kenny pushed his tongue into her slightly open mouth, forcefully.

It was warm, and Kenny tasted like the popcorn he'd been eating at the theater all night. Kenny's hands rested awkwardly on her back, grabbing fistfuls of her shirt within his clammy fingers. This was nothing like what most girls described their first kisses as. No, first kisses were supposed to be magical, and beautiful, with someone the girl really, really liked and enjoyed being with. The girl was supposed to want to be kissing the boy. Instead, Mia would rather be anywhere at that moment than standing in front of the Moscovitzes apartment with her boyfriend's arms locked around her and his mouth almost attached to hers.

It was completely asphyxiating.

Mia nearly gagged. Luckily, she managed to save herself. All thoughts of Michael were pushed out of her head as Kenny's arms tightened their grip around her body, and his tongue continued to explore her mouth. She was still in complete shock, and her feet seemed glued to the floor where they stood, though she wanted nothing more than to push him away.

In the background, Mia heard the door to the apartment open. Finally, she came out of her shocked state and stepped back from Kenny, blushing furiously. She raised her fingers to her blonde hair and began to smooth it down nervously. She could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Her eyes looked down at the floor, unwilling to meet Kenny's, or the person who had answered the door's face.

What a good first impression this would be on Lilly's mother or father. She'd never even met them before, and the first time they'd see her, it would be in front of their apartment, completely making out with her boyfriend? She was completely humiliated, and just when she thought nothing could get any worse, she heard Kenny utter out in his nervous voice, shakily, "uh, hi, Michael. I was just leaving."

_Michael_. Michael! Oh, God. It was Michael who'd answered the door.

And Michael Moscovitz had seen Kenny Showalter, kissing Mia Thermopolis senseless.

Could there ever be anything more embarrassing?

She looked up, unwillingly, but knowing that she had to eventually. Michael was standing there shirtless, looking completely bewildered, and slightly embarrassed. "Kenny," he said, nodding at the other boy slightly. "Hey, Mia…" he trailed off. "Where's Lilly and Boris? I thought you all would be home around eleven, and it's only nine thirty," he said.

She was glad that Michael wasn't bringing up the fact that he'd just seen Kenny and Mia kissing, but Mia still couldn't bring herself to talk to him, so she let Kenny do the talking. "Mia here wasn't feeling so good, so I just brought her back here early because she's sleeping over with Lilly tonight," he said. "But I really should be getting home now," he continued, fiddling with his fingers and avoiding both Mia and Michael's eyes. "Bye Michael." He turned and kissed Mia's red cheek. "Bye, Mia. I'll call you later," he said softly, walking back towards the elevator.

Mia heard Michael breathe in deeply, slowly. "Are you going to stand out there all night, or are you actually going to come in?" he asked her, holding the door open and stepping aside so that she could enter.

She brushed past him, her arm touching his bare shoulder briefly. Mia swore she felt a tingle shoot through her arm and throughout her whole body. "Sorry about that, Michael," she said. "I mean, I didn't mean for you to see that or anything. I forgot the key that Lilly gave me, so I needed someone to answer the door, and I guess your parents aren't here…"

"They're out at my grandparent's house for the night. Grandpa Moscovitz is kind of sick," he said. His voice was distant.

She followed him into the kitchen. It was dimly lit, and the dull light shone off of his dark hair and onto his face, casting a bronze glow over the soft skin of his face and bare chest. His big brown eyes shone brightly at her, but she could tell that something was wrong with him. Even though she didn't know Michael all that well, she could read people fairly well, and she could tell by Michael's expression that something wasn't right.

"Michael, are you okay?" She asked. "I know it's totally not my business, and I'm just your little sister's silly sophomore friend, but you can talk to me if you need to. That's what friends are for, remember?"

Michael was standing about four feet away from Mia, his hands placed on the counter in front of him. He stared down at his fingers, tapping them lightly on the hard, white surface. He shook his head, and lifted his eyes to meet hers. "Nothing," he answered, his tone cold. "Never mind. What are you going to do until Lilly gets back with Boris?"

Mia shrugged. "I don't really have anything to do."

He looked back at her, his eyes dark. "Well, you can amuse yourself until Lilly gets back, can't you? I have to go phone my girlfriend, Judith," he said, not waiting for a response from Mia as he turned his back on her and walked in the direction of his bedroom, slamming his door shut loudly as he reached the room.

Against her better judgment, Mia followed him. She stopped in front of his door and examined the signs that adorned the door, running her finger carelessly across the big, red DO NOT ENTER sign. A few stickers with the names of bands that Mia liked were stuck on the door. And in the middle of the door was a picture of Michael and Judith. Michael's arm was around Judith's shoulders, and both Michael and Judith were beaming brightly.

Mia rolled her eyes at the picture of the happy couple, sighing. She knocked on the door. "Michael? Michael, open up. Michael, are you mad at me?"

He opened the door, wearing an expression of disbelief. "Didn't I just tell you that I had things to do?"

"I just want to know what's wrong, Michael," Mia said, ignoring his angry tone of voice. She looked into his eyes, and she was met with something unfamiliar. Michael's usually fun, light, and playful shining deep brown eyes had been replaced with hurt, sad, dull eyes.

He sighed. "Nothing's wrong, Mia," he answered, the angry tone of voice that had inhibited his voice moments ago gone, replaced by a tired, resigned tone. Michael ducked his head back into his room, and looked around quickly. "Here, come in. You can hang out with me until Lilly comes home."

Mia frowned. "It's okay, you don't have to babysit me. I know you wanted to phone your girlfriend and all," she said, trailing off into silence. "And I know you're just being nice to me because I'm Lilly's friend and all. You don't have to do that."

Michael laughed nervously. "Thermopolis, you're insane. Come on," he said, grabbing one of her wrists and pulling her gently into his room, shutting the door behind them. To Mia's displeasure, he let go of her wrist almost immediately. "Judith can wait. It's not like my life revolves around my girlfriend," he said, laughing again.

Mia touched her wrist gently, feeling the warmth of Michael's brief touch on her skin. She looked around Michael's room. It was neat and organized, to an extent, but less organized than she had expected Michael's room to be. A few pairs of pants and shirts laid on the floor, and his bed was unmade. Band posters hung on his walls, amongst some plastic glow in the dark stars. His walls were painted white. The desk was piled neatly with papers, and his computer sat there, with a Star Wars screensaver. His closet doors were open, and Mia could spot his discarded school uniform on the top of his dirty laundry pile.

Michael walked towards the closet and pulled a clean blue t-shirt off a hanger and slid it over his head. He then sat down on his bed and ran his hand through his hair carelessly, staring down at his fingers. "Listen, Thermopolis, I'm really sorry," he started. "I'm really sorry about interrupting you and Kenny tonight at the door. I didn't know you guys would be there, uh, kissing." He said the apology quickly, and Mia noticed his cheeks flush slightly. She didn't blame him - he had, after all, witnessed one of the worst kisses ever between his dorky computer club friend and his little sister's even dorkier best friend.

Mia forced a laugh. "It's okay, Michael," she said.

"So, you, uh, really like Kenny then, huh?" He asked, twiddling his fingers together and staring down at the floor.

Mia didn't know what to say. On one hand, she liked Michael. And she didn't want to lie to him. And on the other hand, Kenny was her boyfriend. And theoretically, when girls had boyfriends, that meant they really liked the boy. "I guess. He's nice enough."

Mia felt incredibly awkward standing in the middle of Michael's bedroom, suddenly.

He seemed to sense Mia's discomfort with the subject and changed the topic. "So how was the movie, anyways? I love Star Wars," he said.

Mia smiled. "Yeah," she said. "It was really good. It's one of my favorite movies." She paused, and hesitated. "You should have come."

He shrugged. "Judith was busy. And let's face it, I have no other friends, other than Felix, who was also busy."

Mia didn't know what overcame her at that moment to say such a thing. "I'm your friend, aren't I?"

Michael grinned. "Yeah," he said. "But that would have been kind of awkward, hey? You, me, Kenny, Boris, and Lilly? I don't really like Boris, Lilly hates seeing me anywhere she doesn't actually have to see me, and Kenny's your boyfriend," he finished softly. "So I would have been the, what? Fifth wheel? No thanks."

_Actually, Michael, the "you-and-me" part doesn't sound that bad, _Mia thought to herself. "I guess."

"Don't get me wrong, though, Mia," he said, seriously. "I'm really glad we're friends." His voice was soft, and his face completely honest, all evidence of the anger that had been directed at her earlier in the night completely gone.

"Me too," Mia said, in an almost-whisper.

A silence followed, but unlike the silence between Mia and Kenny, this silence was completely comfortable.

In a sudden disruption of the comfortable silence between Michael and Mia, the door to the apartment opened and shut in the distance, and Mia could hear Lilly yelling out her name. "Mia, I'm home! Mia, where are you? Mia!" Lilly paused. "I hope my loser of a brother didn't get you.. Mia!" she kept on calling.

"I guess I'd better go," Mia said. "Lilly calls." She walked towards the door and placed her hand on the doorknob, ready to leave Michael's room.

Mia had began turning the doorknob when she heard Michael speak, softly. "Goodnight, Mia."

Her cheeks turned bright red, and she smiled back at him shyly. "Goodnight, Michael," she whispered, and opened the door, shutting it softly behind her. She collapsed gently against the door and held her head in her hands. Why did he have to be so perfect and so completely not in love with her?


	8. somebody's baby

**Author's Notes**

Daydreamer-022: I do think that it's a bit soon for them to be such close friends. I'm trying to make it happen between them as realistically as I can, but I do agree that they're unrealistically close after knowing each other only about a week. I don't know what I'm going to do about that.

HandsOff: The reason it might tend to sound "english" might be because I'm Canadian. I didn't know that Americans don't use the phrases "phone my friend" or "marks" in reference to grades, so I'm using the wording that sounds natural to me, and I didn't even notice that. If it bothers any of you, I'm sorry.

Lilly: I don't think I'll be writing from Michael's point of view in this story. This story is mostly focused on Michael and Mia's relationship through Mia's eyes, though someday I would really like something from Michael's perspective, so maybe in the future.

To the rest of you who have been faithfully reading and reviewing, thanks a lot. I love getting reviews. It makes my day. And special thanks to all of you who've added me to your author alert list! I'm surprised that that many people are actually reading what I'm writing. Thank you so much to all of you.

I don't know how long this will be even approximately, I'm writing the chapters as I go and I don't really even have a plan for the whole story at all. Please note that this chapter takes place a few weeks after the last chapter did.

This chapter is REALLY long. And the characters might be super out-of-character, but this is sort of an alternate universe piece anyways, so I guess I can do what I want.

* * *

** [MONDAY, FEBRUARY ****10 4:00 PM****]**

_I just got home from school about half an hour ago. The phone rang right as I walked in the door, and neither Mom or Frank were home, so I had to pick up the phone. Just my luck – it was Grandmere. I guess she just had to remind me about how she still exists. I mean, I totally haven't forgotten by now. It's not like she had to remind me. _

_ She wanted to tell me that I have to come back to Genovia in a few weeks for a weekend because she's throwing an important ball with all these European dignitaries and she said it was important for Genovia's princess to be present. On the flip side, it won't be that bad. She's sending the royal jet over to pick me up from the airport here, and since I thought it might be a bore to go back to the palace by myself, I requested that she let me bring a few friends along, as well as Mom, Frank, and Rocky. She had to agree, because I said I wouldn't go unless she made the compromise. It might be nice for all them to see how I lived the first sixteen years of my life. I think they'd understand a lot more about me then, and why I love living in __New York__ so much. _

_ My guest list so far consists of.. _

- _Helen Thermopolis_

- _Frank Gianini_

- _Rocky Thermopolis-Gianini_

- _Lilly Moscovitz_

- _Kenny Showalter_

- _Tina Hakim Baba_

- _Michael Moscovitz_

_ Okay, I know what you're thinking. Kenny?! I had to. I needed a date for the ball. And he IS my boyfriend, after all. Even though in the past few weeks it hasn't gotten any better. He still tries to kiss me all the time and it seems like I can never pull away fast enough. I wonder when he'll get the message. He's sweet, but I think I'd rather be friends with him. _

_ I don't know about inviting Michael. In the past few weeks, we've become a lot closer as friends and all, but he is Lilly's brother after all, and I'm better friends with her. And I think she'd think it was weird if she knew that I had a thing for her brother - which is why I am NEVER telling her. Also the fact that she thinks I'm actually in love with Kenny. I must be a better actress than I thought, because I'm doing a really good job of convincing everyone that I love Kenny. _

_ Anyways, she reluctantly agreed to my terms of the agreement, because of my threatening-not-to-go thing. We'll have them all stay in the palace, because it's huge and mostly uninhabited anyways. I'm kind of nervous that all my friends will get to see where I lived before. It's funny that way – because I totally wasn't nervous to show them the loft I'm living in with Mom and Frank now. I've adjusted to this life really, really well. _

_ And other than the ultimate witch in my history class, Lana Weinberger, and her supremely hot senior boyfriend, Josh Richter, school is going much better than expected. No one except her and her cronies really thinks I'm a freak, and I actually have friends. It's nice to fit in. I'm really glad I made friends with Lilly and Tina. Though we're completely different from each other, in some weird way, we just work. _

_ Friday is Valentine's Day and I'm going on a date with Kenny, and then sleeping over at Lilly's house with Lilly and Tina afterwards. I don't know what Kenny has planned, but I know I'm not really looking forward to it at all. He said to dress up nicely and everything, so last weekend I went shopping for a dress. The upside to the whole date on Valentine's Day thing was that I got a really nice new red dress that I look so nice in, for me, anyways, and really pretty silver shiny shoes out of it. _

_ I've always complained about being alone on Valentine's Day before, but the thing is, now that I have a boyfriend, it's really not a big deal to me at all anymore. Maybe it's just because my boyfriend's Kenny and I'm not particularly crazy about him. If it was Michael, that would be another story, I'm sure. _

Kenny sat at the table beside Mia, his clammy hand holding hers underneath the table. He was scarfing down his lunch using his free hand in a completely unattractive fashion, stuffing his hamburger into his mouth. Mia tried her best not to look completely disgusted by his carnivorous, messy eating habits.

Lilly and Boris were also sitting at their table, and Lilly was quietly eating her lunch as Boris practiced with his violin. That night, Lilly was attending Boris' concert at a major concert hall in New York with a few acclaimed musicians, and she'd been talking about it all week.

Her boyfriend turned to her, his mouth still full of unchewed hamburger that made his cheeks stick out, and smiled goofily at her. Swallowing hard, he put down the wrapper that his hamburger had been placed in. "You excited about our date tonight?" He asked, eagerly. "I've planned it all out, and it's going to be so special," he cried.

Mia nodded. "Yeah, I can't wait," she said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Michael sitting at a table with Judith and the rest of the Computer Club. He was writing again, in that notebook of his, and every few seconds he'd lift his head to stare into space as if he was concentrating on something really hard.

"Oh, come on, Mia! You're no fun!" Kenny commanded her attention back to him. "Aren't you even curious about what we're doing and everything? I mean, I took a lot of time and energy to plan this for you," he said, his voice beginning to sound upset. "Are you even interested in me?"

It would have been the perfect time for Mia to just say no. No, she was not interested in him. She was interested in a perfect boy who just happened to already have a girlfriend. She sighed. It would be cruel to break his heart on Valentine's Day. And then, she'd be alone. "I'm just kind of tired, okay, Kenny? I was up late last night doing my algebra homework."

The end of lunch bell rang just then, and Mia sighed in relief. Kenny walked Mia to G & T, and then went off to his own class. Mia sat down at her usual table in the class, and Lilly and Boris entered minutes later, and walked up to the teacher's desk.

Boris spoke to Mrs. Hill for a moment, and then Mrs. Hill nodded and Boris and Lilly walked towards the door of the classroom. On the way out, Lilly stopped at Mia's desk and explained to her where they were going. "Boris has to practice for his concert tonight, so I'm going along with him to the music room so he can practice in privacy. See you tonight at my house after your date with Kenny."

Mia nodded, and then flipped open her algebra textbook, sighing. The bell signaling the beginning of the class rang, and Michael Moscovitz slid into his seat beside her, right on time. Mrs. Hill took the bell as a sign to take her leave, and she left the classroom – presumably, to go back to the teacher's lounge where she spent most of their classes.

"Hey," she said with a smile, at Michael.

He looked up from digging in his backpack for a moment, pushing the hair out of his eyes. "Hi," he smiled back. "Just give me a second to get this out, and then I'll help you out with your algebra homework, if you want." He pulled out his notebook and flipped through it, looking for something.

"Okay," Mia said. "We didn't really learn anything new today, just some review," she continued. "And I think I'm understanding some of this unit. Thanks to all your help. I don't know what I'd do if I was actually on my own to figure all that stuff out by myself."

"You could do it," Michael said, seriously. "You're smart. You just need to focus and learn to be more organized." He pulled a red envelope out of his notebook. "This is what I was looking for. I know it's so third-grade and all, but this is for you. Happy Valentine's Day." His cheeks were slightly flushed. "I did these for all my friends. What can I say, I'm a dork with nothing better to do with my time."

Mia was touched. She turned the envelope over in her hands. Her name was distinctively written in Michael's neat printing on the front, and Mia was dying to open it and see what it was, but she didn't think it would be appropriate to open it in front of Michael. "Thanks, Michael," she said, sincerely. "And you're not a dork," she laughed. She put the card away carefully, into the outer pocket of her backpack.

Michael rolled his eyes. "You're just being nice." He shut his notebook and pushed it to the corner of their desk. "Hey, did you see Lilly's show last night?"

She laughed. "Yeah. I watch every episode."

"My sister is insane." Michael groaned.

Mia nodded. "A good kind of insane, though."

He shrugged. "So, are you sleeping over with Lilly tonight?"

"Yeah," Mia said. "The usual Friday night activities. We're so predictable," she laughed. "Lilly has a date with Boris, though, that concert thing he's doing tonight. And I'll be there after my date with Kenny."

"You've got a date with Kenny tonight?" Michael asked, his tone of voice one of polite interest, as it seemed to Mia.

"Well, it is Valentine's Day and he's my boyfriend, after all," Mia replied, slowly. "He's got all this stuff planned out for us to do and he's really excited about it. He won't tell me what we're doing, though. I hate surprises. They drive me insane," Mia finished. "What about you? Got any special plans with Judith tonight?"

Michael scratched his head with his index finger. "Yeah," he said. "We're just going out for coffee, and then going to a Valentine's Day party at my friend from the Computer Club, Felix's house, nothing really special. But it's our six-month anniversary today."

Mia cringed, her stomach twisting itself into knots at the thought of Michael and Judith's Valentine's Day plans and the fact that as of today, they had been dating for six months. It just reinforced the fact that she had no chance in hell with him. "That sounds good," Mia said, weakly.

Michael seemed eager to dismiss the subject. "So, what did you need help with from algebra today?"

* * *

Mia stood in front of the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door, staring at herself critically. She was dressed in the prettiest red dress ever. It was a deep red satin with a dull finish. It was off-the-shoulder, with small straps that laid gently on her arms and exposed her shoulders. The body was tight-fitting, and then the skirt flared out gradually from her waist and fell to her knees, a layer of crinoline that itched at her knees underneath. She had chosen a simple silver necklace and simple strappy silver sandals to complete her ensemble. Her hair fell to her shoulders in soft waves.

She had to admit, she was definitely looking better than usual. Helen had helped her with the makeup and the hair, and she did a wonderful job. If only Michael could see her like this.

The thought of Michael sparked something inside of Mia, and she suddenly remembered the card that he'd given her in G & T that day. She grabbed her backpack off the floor and unzipped the front pocket, pulling out the card with care. Mia ripped open the envelope and pulled out the card that laid inside.

It had a picture of Michael and Mia that Lilly had taken one day when Mia was at Lilly's apartment on the front. Mia remembered that day with a smile. She and Lilly had been making cookies, and in the process, Michael had gotten involved and the three of them had had an all-out war with chocolate chip cookie dough, getting the sticky dough all over themselves in the process. Mia couldn't remember ever laughing so much in her whole entire life. In the picture Lilly had taken, Mia had cookie dough all over her face, and so did Michael. It was also in his long, dark brown hair. They were both grinning at the camera, their heads leaned towards each others.

Mia opened the card. The inside was plain and red, and said in Michael's distinctive, neat printing

_Mia, _

_Every time I see this picture of you and I, it makes me smile. I know it seems like I say this to you a lot, but I'm really glad we're friends. It's the truth, what can I say? I hate getting all sentimental and crap like that, you know that, but I wanted to tell you I think Kenny's a good guy, and I hope he knows what a lucky guy he is to be dating a girl like you. Happy Valentine's Day._

_Love, Michael_

Mia nearly had a heart attack. "I hope he knows what a lucky guy he is to be dating a girl like you," she whispered to herself. "How did I end up with a guy like Kenny?"

"What do you mean by that, Mia?" Helen had entered the room, and upon Mia's examination of her mother's facial expression, she had heard Mia's statement of apparent dismay over her boyfriend.

Mia shook her head furiously. "Nothing, I was just talking to myself."

"Kenny's here. And you look amazing, by the way," Helen said, smiling at her daughter. "I have such a beautiful daughter. How did I ever get so lucky?"

Mia smiled at her mother. "Thanks, Mom."

"Have a good time with Kenny, honey. See you tomorrow afternoon."

* * *

The restaurant that Kenny had taken Mia to was nice. She had to admit, when he came to her apartment to pick her up, he had been a complete gentleman. Kenny had brought her a beautiful pink rose, to Mia's surprise. So he did have a romantic bone in his body. And then he had told her that they were going out to dinner.

The place was nice. The food was good. It was just that Mia's heart wasn't in it. No, all she could think about was Michael's note and the way he had compromised his usual hatred of sentimentality and sweet words to tell her that he hoped Kenny knew how lucky he was.

And the fact that all that Kenny could talk about was anime and science fiction might have also been another deterrent to Mia's full enjoyment of the night. She took a small bite of her delicious vegetarian lasagna, trying to focus herself on Kenny, who was at that very moment discussing their Biology test next week.

At least he wasn't discussing science fiction or anime anymore.

"So I was wondering if you maybe needed my help to study for the test next week," Kenny said. "I could come over on Tuesday night and help you out with it. It really wouldn't be a problem," he continued. "And I'd get to spend some time with you. I feel like we haven't hung out in a long time."

No, he just suffocated her every day all day. He was there in the morning, before she went to class. He was there between her morning classes. He was there at lunchtime. He walked her to G & T. And then, her least favorite class of the day, Biology, where they sat together every day. Not to mention the fact that he called her every day to talk for at least an hour.

"Okay," she answered, smiling brightly at Kenny.

He leaned across the table and kissed her cheek. "Are you done your dinner? Because if you're done, we should start on our second half of the evening."

"Yeah, I'm finished," Mia said, dropping her fork in the lasagna.

Kenny paid the waiter, and they walked out of the restaurant together in silence, Kenny's hand grasping Mia's as usual. "So what are we doing for the second half of tonight?" Mia asked, hoping that he'd finally give in and tell her.

And he did. "We're going to my friend Felix from Computer Club's party. If that's alright with you. Because if you're not up for the party thing tonight, we could go to my house and watch a movie or something. That would be cool, if you wanted to. I just thought it might be fun to hang out with some of my friends for once."

The party Michael would be attending with his girlfriend for the past six months, Judith Gershner, the perfect fruit fly cloning, early acceptance to Columbia University girl. Oh yeah, Felix's party was just the place that Mia wanted to be. However, the alternative of spending the next two hours alone with Kenny watching a movie at his house sounded much worse to Mia, so she reluctantly agreed to the party idea. At least then she could pretend to get lost in the crowd and escape from him for awhile.

They reached Felix's house in a few minutes, and Mia could see tons of people inside through the windows. There were people outside on the front lawn, clutching plastic cups and standing in groups, swaying to the beat that was pulsing throughout the house and flowing softly to the front yard.

Kenny pulled Mia up the sidewalk that lead up to Felix's house and up the front steps, until they were inside. People were dancing in the living room, and those who weren't were sitting or standing in small groups or couples in the sidelines, drinking. There were a few couples scattered around, kissing.

Mia was slightly uncomfortable with the situation, so she clutched Kenny's hand tighter. "Kenny, we're not going to be here a long time, are we?" Mia wasn't really a party girl, and she found that she didn't really have any desire to be.

"Just a little while," Kenny said. "We don't have to stay a long time if you're going to be uncomfortable. But I told my friends we'd put in an appearance here, so I have to talk to a few people," he continued, having to shout over the music. "Do you want a drink?"

"Water would be nice," Mia shouted back. She wasn't really into the whole underage drinking thing, as many of the people at this party seemed to be. She tightened her grip on Kenny's hand again and followed him through the throng of people to the kitchen, which was considerably quieter and less populated. A few guys stood in there, and some people left while Kenny and Mia entered.

Kenny grabbed Mia a water bottle and kept one for himself. "I'm going to go back out there and go find some of my friends. Do you want to come with me? If you want to, you can hang out in here."

Mia shook her head. "You go talk to your friends. I'll just be here for a while, it's nice and quiet."

Kenny let go of her hand and walked back out of the kitchen. The music in here was less loud, but it carried slightly. Mia sat down at the table in a vacant chair, taking a sip out of her water bottle. She was completely alone. Though it might have seemed loserish to say, she liked it that way.

The kitchen door opened a few minutes later, and Michael Moscovitz walked in by himself, clutching a blue plastic cup filled with a brown liquid that Mia presumed was some sort of alcoholic beverage. He looked wonderful. His hair was slightly messy, as usual, and he wore a white Ben Kweller t-shirt shirt over a lighter blue t-shirt and a pair of not too baggy but not too tight black pants, along with a pair of black Chuck Taylors. "Hey, Mia," he said, and sat down in a chair beside her. "How was your date with Kenny?" He put his cup down on the table.

Mia smiled. "It was good, thanks."

"So where is he?" Michael asked. "You'd think that since you guys were on a date and all and it's Valentine's Day, he'd be hanging out with you."

"I don't see you with Judith," Mia retorted, defensively. "And it's your six-month anniversary. Kenny's out there talking to his friends, for your information. I just wanted to sit here, because it's quiet. Parties aren't really my thing."

Michael nodded. "Judith's around here somewhere." He laughed. "I think we might have gotten into a fight about something, but I'm not really sure what."

It sounded weird to Mia for Michael to brush something like a fight between him and his girlfriend off so easily. "Michael, are you drunk?"

He shook his head. "No. This is my first cup of the night," he said. "I don't really drink at all. That's Judith's department, I guess," he said, his eyes clouding over. "I think she's had a few tonight."

Mia frowned. "Yikes. That's going to hurt in the morning," she said.

Michael shrugged. "Yeah."

"So why aren't you out there talking to the rest of your friends?" Mia asked. After all, the party was being thrown by one of Michael's closest Computer Club buddies. She had assumed that Michael would have had a lot of friends at the party.

"Truthfully, I'm not really into parties," Michael said, quietly. "I'm kind of getting a headache from all this smoke and loud music."

Mia laughed. "I know how you feel."

He looked into her eyes, and Mia could feel her heartbeat accelerating. "Do you want to go take a walk, maybe? I think I really need to get out of here."

Mia agreed. "Yeah."

"Okay, I just need to go find my jacket. I left it in Felix's bedroom." He got up from the table and motioned for her to follow him. "Come on, let's go." He exited the kitchen, and they walked back out into the crowds and down the hallway to a closed door.

Michael pushed open the door and Mia followed him in. Michael flicked on the light switch and immediately exclaimed, "What the hell is going on in here?" in a loud, angry voice that Mia had never heard him speak in before.

She stepped out from behind him, curious to see what had caught Michael so off-guard. What she saw nearly made her heart jump out of her chest, and she guessed that Michael felt about a million times worse.

Judith Gershner, Michael Moscovitz's girlfriend of six months, was lying on the bed on top of some shirtless, muscular, bleached-blonde surfer guy who totally had his hands up her shirt. From the looks of it, Judith and Mysterious Surfer Blonde Haired Boy had been kissing feverishly.

Mia glanced over at Michael out of the corner of her eye. He was gaping at his girlfriend, his mouth open slightly and his eyes clouding over with something Mia couldn't place. Not in Michael's eyes, anyways. Anger, sadness, regret, hurt?

And then, Michael wordlessly turned and bolted from the room, leaving Judith spluttering nervously, saying that she didn't know what she was thinking, she didn't know what she was doing, making endless apologies that wouldn't be heard by Michael. Because he was gone.

Mia stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

And then in a moment, she knew.

She turned and left the room.

Mia was going to follow Michael.


	9. does it hurt you?

**Author's Note:**

I wasn't even planning on doing a chapter tonight, but I was avoiding my homework and sat down, and about three hours later, I came up with this. I hope you guys like it. A little more Michael/Mia action happens here. Please review and tell me what you think of this one, because I'm not really sure that I like it or not. I'm kind of nervous about posting it.

* * *

Mia pushed through the crowds of drunken people in the hallway outside Felix's room, coughing and rubbing at her watering eyes. The smoke was thick and impairing her senses, and she had to get out. Her eyes searched the crowd quickly, darting around, hoping to spot Michael's dark haired head somewhere amongst all the people. But she had no such luck. Frustrated, she finally reached the front door and walked outside.

Realizing she hadn't told Kenny she was leaving, Mia debated going back inside to tell him. She turned around and stared back into the house through the open door and at all the people and instead, decided to call his cell phone from her own and leave him a message telling him that she was done with the party and had gone back to the Moscovitzes to sleep over with Lilly, which wasn't a total and complete lie. She left a quick message on his voicemail, and then shoved her phone back into the pocket of her jacket, zipping it shut.

Pushing all thoughts of Kenny Showalter out of her mind, Mia's eyes desperately searched the front yard. She didn't know what to expect from Michael – where he'd go, what he'd do, how he'd react to the whole situation. Mia had become increasingly better friends with him in the past month, but she still had no idea what he'd do in this kind of situation. She only hoped it wasn't anything drastic.

Sighing, she walked down the front steps. Most of the people who had been outside earlier had moved on to the interior of Felix's house when it had began to rain slightly, leaving the front yard mostly empty except for a few scattered, abandoned cups strewn across the grass. Mia's pretty, perfect red party dress was getting splattered with raindrops, but she didn't care.

Mia opened the gate at Felix's fence and walked through, shutting it silently behind her. Turning to walk towards the Moscovitzes, Mia almost tripped over something, _someone, _sitting on the wet sidewalk with his back against the fence. Mia breathed a sigh of relief as the person she'd nearly fallen over turned to look up at her. It was Michael. He was completely and thoroughly drenched from head to toe, and his dark hair was even darker with its wetness, all plastered to his forehead.

She knew it was wrong to have these thoughts, when Michael was probably completely depressed, completely wet, but she couldn't help herself. He still looked gorgeous. His normally sarcastic, smiling eyes were dark, and there was such emotion projected through his eyes that Mia couldn't even identify what it was that Michael must be feeling at that moment.

Not knowing what to say, Mia simply put her coat down on the wet sidewalk right beside where he sat, and sat down on it, smoothing her wet dress down. Her hair was beginning to get completely soaked with the water that was now pouring from the dark, gray night sky. Mia shivered.

For once, Mia couldn't find the words to say anything to him.

It was definitely a different kind of situation. Usually when they were together, either one of them, or both of them, wouldn't stop talking. However, after such an incident had taken place, Mia wasn't sure what she could say to make anything better, and so she simply assumed that there was nothing she could say. Michael would talk to her if he wanted to. When he was ready to. And the silence, though thick with tension, was comfortable silence.

And then, Michael spoke. Mia didn't know how long it had been that they'd sat there in silence. The rain continued to pour, and Michael, staring at his black Chuck Taylors, said softly, "Mia?" as if he was questioning the fact that she was still there beside him.

Mia glanced over at him tentatively. He was still staring at the ground, as if entranced by the wet sidewalk and the grass growing through the cracks in the concrete. She wasn't sure if he wanted her to answer him, or if he was just checking that she was still there beside him. "Yeah, Michael?" she answered, almost in a whisper.

Abruptly, Michael pulled himself to his feet robotically, extending his hand to Mia. Mia looked at him, and then down at his hand and grabbed it, pulling herself up with his help, grabbing her wet jacket as she did. Though they were both soaked and freezing, Mia could feel his warmth from the touch of his hand to hers radiating throughout her whole entire body. She dropped his hand, then, and he ran his fingers through his wet hair.

Wordlessly, Michael turned in the direction of the Moscovitzes apartment and began to walk away slowly. Mia stood there, rooted to the spot where she had stood up. A few steps after he had began walking, Michael realized Mia wasn't following him and turned around to face her. "Are you coming?" he asked, his voice soft.

"If you want me to," Mia answered, her voice still almost a whisper.

He didn't have to say anything. Michael simply nodded, and Mia walked towards him slowly. When she'd caught up with him those few steps, he continued to walk. The space between them was a few feet wide, but regardless of their distance from each other, it was almost as if Mia could feel his presence around her. It was a spooky thing.

They walked for the rest of the distance to the Moscovitzes' apartment together in silence. When they were about to turn the corner and up the sidewalk to the front door of the apartment building, Michael stopped and turned in the opposite direction, crossing the street and walking towards the children's park. Hesitantly, Mia followed him.

He sat down on a swing, and Mia sat down on the swing next to him. "You know," Michael said, interrupting the silence between them, "I always thought I was good to her. I mean, I know I'm a dork and all. I'm not the coolest guy on earth, but I thought I was at least a good boyfriend. Was I so wrong to think that? I was there for her. I…" he trailed off. "I liked her a lot."

Mia shook her head. "No," she replied, slowly, thinking about her response. "It's not your fault, Michael. None of this is." She paused, breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly. "Judith obviously doesn't know how good she had it with you."

Michael looked over at Mia, his face full of emotion. "I liked her so much," he repeated. "Do you know, she was my first real girlfriend? We got together six months ago, at a friend's party. I guess I'd been sort of interested in her for awhile, and she kissed me, and then it was like, we were together all of the sudden. Before that, we were just friends. Best friends, actually." He stopped, looking away from Mia and frowning down at his shoes and the sand underneath his swing. "The thing that makes me saddest about all of this is the fact that we probably won't be able to be friends like we were before after all this crap's over and done with. I'm not going to miss her as my girlfriend. I'm going to miss her as my best friend. And I guess having her as my girlfriend was kind of just a way of keeping my best friend closer to me." Michael paused. "Do you know what I mean at all?"

Mia nodded. "Yeah. I know exactly what you mean, I think."

He shook his head then, a half-smile bitterly placed on his face. "I shouldn't be talking to you about this. I mean, you don't have to listen to me get all angsty about my lying, cheating girlfriend. I'm sorry, Mia," he said. "I just didn't have anyone to talk to and I don't know if there's anyone I could talk to," he finished, looking down at his hands.

Mia reached over and touched his bare, wet arm gently with her damp fingers, a simple gesture which turned into something more once Mia let her fingers linger a few moments too long. Not knowing what she had been thinking, she snatched her hand away, her cheeks burning. "I, uh," Mia stuttered. "I mean, Michael, you don't have to feel badly about confiding in me. That's what friends are for."

He reached up his hand and rubbed the place her fingers had just rested on his arm absentmindedly, his deep peat-bog brown eyes strangely fixated on her grey eyes, unblinking and seemingly mesmerized. Michael bit his lip, and as if in a trance, reached his hand out slowly to where Mia's hand rested on her dress. Her fingers met his fingers, and he intertwined them together, gently rubbing her hand with his thumb, his eyes never leaving hers.

Mia felt as if she was going to spontaneously combust at any given moment in time. Michael must have been suffering from some weird kind of shock as a result of seeing his girlfriend lying on a bed at a party, completely drunk and making out with some disgusting, muscle-bound football player type guy. But even then, even if Michael had have been in shock and that was the only reason he was caressing Mia's hand so softly and gently with his thumb, even then Mia would have still felt warm all over. It was almost as if she was flying, and she never wanted to come down. It was amazing the way that Michael could do such a thing to her by such a simple gesture.

And then, as Mia realized what was happening, that Michael Moscovitz was holding her hand, stroking her hand, and staring deeply into her eyes, she broke herself out of the love-induced haze trancelike state that had formed in her mind and snatched her hand away, standing up abruptly and walking a few steps away from Michael. What on earth was going on? Michael must have been suffering from severe delusions as a result of tonight's traumatic experiences.

She stood back at the sidewalk, directly across from the Moscovitzes' apartment building. Mia took a few deep breaths in and exhaled slowly, trying to calm herself down the way that Grandmere had taught her to when she was twelve and got nervous speaking in front of the Genovian Parliament. This method didn't work so well at this particular moment in time, however, and Mia found herself just panicking even more.

Mia turned around, fully prepared to tell Michael that she was going back to the Moscovitzes apartment. She was freezing cold, as well as completely tired out, and to be honest, the situation of being alone with Michael in the park at night with him holding her hand and gazing lovingly into her eyes was beginning to freak her right out. Not that it wasn't nice. It was just that Mia couldn't help thinking that Michael just didn't know what he was doing, because of all the awful things that had happened that night.

However, when she turned around, she found that Michael was about two feet away from her, and staring right at her again, intently. Maybe Michael had been lying when he said he hadn't been drinking. Maybe he was actually completely drunk and Mia just hadn't been able to tell it before. That would explain a lot. Mia felt her breathing start to increase and her heart rate felt as if it just tripled as Michael, smiling a slight half-smile, broke eye contact and stared down at the damp sand, kicking at it with his wet shoes.

Just when Mia had breathed a sigh of relief when Michael had stopped staring at her so fixatedly, he took a few steps towards her until he was mere inches away. She could practically feel his warm breath on her face, and it didn't smell like alcohol. So he really hadn't been lying when he said he hadn't been drinking. Scratch the idea that he might be completely drunk. However, the 'in shock and having delusions' thing was still a possibility. Nervous, Mia took a step back.

And Michael took two steps forward, reaching up his hand to touch her face, an expression of wonderment on his own face. "Mia," he whispered, his voice softer than Mia had ever heard him speak before. Oh, God. Mia was going to faint. Michael's close proximity to her was intoxicating. He brought his other hand to her face, and Mia thought that her knees would give out. She felt her mind entering that love-induced haze again, and she fought it as hard as she could, remembering that it was just that night, an hour ago, when Michael had caught his girlfriend of six months making out with another guy at his friend's party.

Michael took a deep breath and leaned in to Mia. Mia's eyes widened as she saw Michael close his eyes and begin to lean in, closer and closer, slowly. He was going to kiss her.

Mia didn't know whether to jump for joy, and then close her own eyes and return the sentiment, or push him away because of the whole circumstances of the situation. Half of Mia's heart was screaming _yes, let him kiss you, _and the other half was crying out _no, remember what happened tonight. _She was scared to the point of immobility, frozen in her spot.

But as Michael drew closer, Mia knew what she had to do.

She brought her hands up and placed them gently on his shoulders, closing her eyes. She couldn't believe she was about to do this. The guy of her dreams was standing here, wanting to kiss her.

Mia gently shook Michael's shoulders with her hands, and then opened her eyes. "Michael." She didn't know what else to say. She couldn't believe that she'd just been standing here and Michael had been fully intending to kiss her, and she'd refused him. Mia had just pushed the guy of her dreams away. Mia's heart sank. But it wouldn't have been right to kiss him. He was hurting, because of Judith's cheating, and Mia didn't want to take advantage of him. And she didn't want him to take advantage of her to get even with Judith. Michael didn't even like Mia that way. He couldn't. They were just friends, and Michael was in love with Judith. And it just wasn't right.

Michael opened his eyes, an expression of confusion present on his face. As if he had no idea what he'd been doing. His eyes widened. "Oh, shit," he said under his breath, wringing his hands through his damp hair. His expression became apologetic, and he shook his head at Mia, wide-eyed. "I'm so sorry, Mia," he said, his words rushed. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Michael, we can't do this," Mia started. "You know. You can't use me like that to get back at Judith, just because you're mad at her for cheating on you. You're in love with Judith," she continued, as much as it pained her to admit these words out loud. "Not me. We're just friends, Michael. And I'm dating Kenny, who is my boyfriend, and who would not be so pleased if you, his friend, and I, his girlfriend, well, kissed." She breathed in deeply. "You just need some time to get over all of this."

He shook his head. "Yeah, Mia, I know. I have no idea what I was thinking." His cheeks were flushed a bright pink. "I'm such a jerk. I'd really like it if we could just forget that this ever happened," he continued.

"Me too," Mia lied. _She never, ever, wanted to forget the fact that Michael Moscovitz had almost kissed her. _Even if it was just because he was in pain over his cheating girlfriend and didn't know what the hell he was doing at the time. She never wanted to forget the feeling of his breath on her face, cool and sweet. As if anything as awesome as almost-kissing Michael Moscovitz would ever happen to her in her life ever again. Yeah, right. "I need to get back to the apartment. Lilly's expecting me," she said, quickly.

Michael nodded and they walked back across the street silently. When they reached the front door of the Moscovitzes' residence, Michael slid his key into the lock and turned to Mia before opening the door. "Could you not mention any of this to Lilly?" he asked. "I mean the whole Judith cheating on me, and you and I almost..." he trailed off, looking at Mia, his cheeks flushing again. "You know what I'm talking about. Please don't tell Lilly."

Mia nodded. "Sure."

There was no way Mia was going to sleep at all tonight.


	10. me and the moon

**Author's Notes: **

I think I really like this chapter. It took me all afternoon to write this. It's really, really long, and the first half is kind of boring, but I think you guys will like the second half. And to answer your questions, no. Mia hasn't asked everyone to go to Genovia yet. But I promise, she will, and later on in the story, they'll be going there. I have no idea how many chapters I have left to write, but it's not over yet, believe me. I've got a lot more ideas of things to do with this. Thanks for all the reviews! Please keep them coming, I appreciate them more than you guys possibly know. Hope you guys like this chapter.

* * *

Mia stumbled into the Moscovitzes kitchen the next morning after quickly getting dressed right as she had woken up. The bright, mid-morning sun illuminated the entire kitchen through the skylight in the ceiling. Lilly and Michael were seated at the table, both eating some sort of cereal and not speaking to each other. Michael was staring off into space thoughtfully, and Lilly was scribbling on a piece of paper. Mia yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. It had been a long night, and she'd just woken up after sleeping for about two hours on the Moscovitzes living room floor. As predicted, she hadn't been able to sleep due to the events of last night.

Lilly looked up as Mia entered the kitchen and smiled. "Hi, sleepyhead!" she said, enthusiastically. "Sorry I was already asleep when you got back last night, but I was really tired. I wanted to wait so we could talk about your _daaaaate_ with Kenny. Anyways, how was it?"

Mia had been quite relieved when she had came home with Michael last night and discovered that Lilly was already sleeping. It meant that she wouldn't have to explain why she'd came home at the same time as Lilly's brother and Kenny hadn't walked her home - Michael had. She quickly glanced over at Michael, to find that he was staring fixatedly at the kitchen floor, as he continued to absent-mindedly shove cereal into his mouth. "It was nice," Mia said, weakly, hoping that Lilly would drop the subject. It was making her uncomfortable to talk about last night.

"Mia, give me details! Where did he take you? What did you guys end up doing?" Not noticing Mia's apparent disdain with Lilly's subject of choice, Lilly continued to interrogate her best friend.

Pulling out the chair across the table from Michael and beside Lilly, she sat down, placing her elbows on the tabletop. "We just went out for dinner at this nice Italian place, and then we went to his friend Felix's party for a little while, and then I came home. Nothing really that special," she said.

"Oh, yeah!" Lilly exclaimed. "Felix's party! I was invited to that. How was it?" Lilly asked Mia. Then, she turned to Michael and said, "Michael, didn't you and Judith go, too?"

For the first time that morning, Michael made eye contact with Mia. Michael's eyes were still downcast, and he looked tired, as if he hadn't slept either last night. "Yeah, Judith and I went. It was fine," Michael said quietly, not breaking his eye contact with Mia. It was almost as if he was testing her, testing her to see if he could trust her with the secrets of the events that had taken place last night. "Nothing special."

Mia looked away from Michael's intense gaze.

Lilly finally realized that something strange was going on, and she looked from Michael to Mia and back, suspiciously. "There's something you two aren't telling me," she said, pausing. Luckily, the doorbell interrupted her, and she got up to answer it. "I'll get to the bottom of it once I get back," she yelled, over her shoulder as she walked towards the front door.

Michael sighed. "Thanks for not telling her anything," he said, no longer looking at Mia.

"What are you going to do?"

He looked confused. "What do you mean, what am I going to do? About what?"

"Judith. Last night."

"Oh, that." He let out a deep breath. "I don't know. I don't want to talk about it. Truthfully, I just want to pretend everything last night didn't happen." A silence fell between Michael and Mia, wrought with tension.

_He wanted to pretend he hadn't almost kissed Mia Thermopolis. _Mia sighed.

At that moment, Lilly reappared in the doorway of the kitchen. "Michael," she said, "Judith's here to see you."

Judith stepped out from behind Lilly. Her eyes were tired, and Mia could tell she had a nasty hangover from drinking so excessively last night. Judith's clothes, normally immaculately cleaned and ironed, were wrinkled and she looked as if she had had a long night and just woke up from a restless slumber. But Mia didn't feel sympathy for her.

And as Michael looked at up her with disgust evident on his handsome face, Mia realized that he didn't feel sympathy for her either. But that was to be expected. "Lilly, I don't want to talk to Judith. Please tell her to go home," he said, his calm voice laced with a dangerous edge.

Lilly looked at Michael, confused. "What the hell is going on here?" she demanded.

"Michael, please. I just need to talk to you. I need to clear things up. I didn't mean to..." Judith pleaded, trailing off and staring at Michael with sad, puppy-dog eyes.

Mia felt herself bristling with anger at Judith for what she'd done to Michael. And then, she had actually had the nerve to come to Michael's apartment, the morning after she had cheated on him with some disgusting big blonde surfer guy, and try to apologize. Mia wouldn't let anyone, even if it was perfect Judith Gershner who cloned fruit flies, do that to her friends. Especially when that friend was Michael Moscovitz, the love of Mia Thermopolis' life. She stood up from the table. "I don't think Michael wants to talk to you, Judith," she said, rudely. "And I really can't blame him."

"Since when are you Michael's spokesperson?" Judith retorted at Mia, equally as rudely. She turned away from Mia, ready to begin pleading with Michael again. "Michael, please. Michael, just talk to me. Let me explain. I promise, there's an explanation for everything. I didn't know what I was doing."

"Seriously, what on earth is going on here?" Lilly screeched. "Would someone please tell me what happened?! Michael, why did you tell me to tell Judith to go home? Mia, why on earth are you defending my brother from his girlfriend?" She turned to Judith. "And Judith, what are you apologizing to my brother for?"

The kitchen fell silent as Lilly finished her tirade. Michael was staring at the floor, avoiding Judith's sad eyes. Lilly's confused face had turned bright red with rage at the fact that everyone else knew something she didn't. Mia was fidgeting with her fingers, shooting glares at Judith. If looks could kill...

Unexpectedly, Michael interrupted the silence and raised his eyes to Judith's. "Leave me alone," he said quietly, his voice completely serious and devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

Judith spluttered, ready to protest.

"Don't." Michael paused, and a silence ensued. "We're done." With those last words, he walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway, into his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Judith moved to follow him, but Lilly grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "Don't follow him. I don't know what you did to him to make him this angry at you, but he doesn't want to talk to you."

Judith protested. "But I'm his girlfriend!"

"Didn't you hear him? He just said he's through with you, Judith." Lilly said. "He just broke up with you. Which means you're not his girlfriend anymore." She turned to Mia, dismissing Judith, who then left through the front door. "Now. You're going to tell me what happened last night. And don't even tell me that you don't know, because I heard you defending my brother."

"Lilly..." Mia trailed off. "You're going to have to ask Michael," she continued. "I promised him I wouldn't say anything to anyone about last night, and it's really not my story to tell," she finished. She knew her best friend wouldn't accept that as an explanation. Lilly was out for the whole truth.

Lilly glared at Mia. "Then I'm going to go ask Michael." She walked off towards Michael's bedroom door, and bursted in without knocking. "Tell me what's going on, Michael. I have a right to know."

Mia followed Lilly, and stood behind her in Michael's doorway, leaning on the doorframe.

Michael was lying face down on his bed. "Go away," he moaned as Lilly walked up to him and proceeded to hit him with a pillow that she'd grabbed off the floor. "Lilly, cut it out!" He said, finally jumping up and wrestling the pillow from her hands.

"Just tell me what happened," Lilly said.

"For the last time, Lilly, I don't want to talk about it." Michael was beginning to look angry. "Now would you please, get the hell out of my bedroom and leave me alone?"

Reluctant, Lilly left Michael's side and walked out of his bedroom, grabbing Mia's wrist and pulling her along with her. Once they were in the hallway and had shut Michael's bedroom door, Lilly let go of Mia's wrist. "Why won't he tell me what happened?" Lilly asked.

"Lilly, he just needs some time to himself, that's all. You'll find out soon enough," Mia said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to be home by noon because Grandmere's coming to visit today and we're going out shopping." Mia walked down the hallway and grabbed her belongings out of the living room and left. "See you on Monday at school!" She called behind her, shutting the door.

* * *

That night, Mia was sitting at home alone by herself, on the computer, writing an e-mail to her father back in Genovia. Frank, Helen, and Rocky were out for dinner and a movie. Mia had decided against going with them, due to the fact that she just wanted to be alone tonight. And the fact that it was also pouring rain outside, and the moisture in the air would cause her hair to go frizzy. 

Mia paused from her e-mail writing and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. A crack of thunder sounded, and Mia shivered. She didn't much like thunderstorms. Suddenly, as Mia was beginning to doze off, her computer made a beeping noise, and she shook herself back awake, looking around. She had an instant message from LinuxRulz. Michael Moscovitz.

**LinuxRulz: **Hey, Thermopolis.

Whoa. Michael was messaging her. She minimized the window with the e-mail to her father, thinking that she'd finish it later. Her father could wait.

**FtLouie: **Hi, Michael.  
**LinuxRulz: **Thanks again for not telling my sister about Judith... and all that other stuff. I know she was really bugging you about it. I don't know why she feels she needs to know so badly.   
**FtLouie: **You can count on me. You're welcome. Are you going to be okay?   
**LinuxRulz: **I'm fine. I'm getting over it, I guess. Judith called after you left. She wanted to know if it really was over, and I told her it was. So I guess we've broken up for good.   
**FtLouie: **Is that what you wanted?  
**LinuxRulz:** I didn't want to be with a girl who didn't respect me enough to not cheat on me. I hope she didn't do it because I was a bad boyfriend or anything.  
**FtLouie: **No, I'm sure she didn't. It was probably just because she was drinking. But I think you made the right choice, breaking up with her.  
**LinuxRulz:** Enough about Judith. I'm sick of thinking about her. What are you doing right now?  
**FtLouie:** Not much. I was just writing an e-mail to my father. Mom, Frank, and Rocky are out at dinner right now. Truthfully, I'm kind of scared of being home alone. I hate thunderstorms.   
**LinuxRulz: **If you wanted, I could drive over and keep you company. I'm not doing anything right now and I'd really like to get out of my house for awhile. Lilly keeps interrogating me.

He was offering to come over. Wow. As if Mia would turn down that offer.

**FtLouie: **Yeah, sure. That would be great.   
**LinuxRulz: **I'll be there in about twenty minutes. See you later.   
**LinuxRulz has signed off.**

Michael was coming over! Mia signed herself off, and jumped up from the chair. She ran frantically around the apartment, cleaning up quickly and making sure that there weren't Rocky's toys all over the floor or Mia's own underwear all over the floor of her bedroom. Last of all, she checked her hair and makeup in the mirror. She looked fine, but she was wearing a disgusting pair of sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt that was at least three years old.

She threw off her old clothes quickly, right as the doorbell rang. "Coming!" Mia called, and frantically pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a light brown fitted long sleeved t-shirt, with a dark brown sweater over it. Hurrying, she ran down the hallway towards the front door and pulled it open, smiling. Nervous.

Michael was standing there, looking at the floor. His hair was slightly wet, probably from walking from his parking space in front of Mia's apartment up to the front door of her building. He was wearing a pair of gray skateboard shoes, dark jeans, and a gray hooded zip up sweatshirt with a red t-shirt underneath. As usual, he looked amazing. Why Judith had ever cheated on Michael, Mia would never, ever be able to understand. "Hey," he said, lifting his head and smiling half-heartedly at her as she opened the door and stared at him.

Mia blinked, realizing that she was staring. She shook her head, smiling back at him. "Hi, Michael," she said, her voice quivering nervously. She coughed. "Come in," she continued. "It's raining cats and dogs out there, hey?" Mia cringed as she realized how stupid what she had said just sounded.

But Michael just laughed. "Yeah, it is," he said, entering Mia's apartment and stepping out of his shoes as she shut the door behind him, brushing her hair against his shoulder.

"Do you need a towel to dry off or anything?" Mia asked. "You look kind of wet."

Michael shook his head. "No, I'll be fine." He bit his lip. "So...The only plan I had was just to come over here. You were supposed to come up with the rest of it. You know, what we're going to do for the next few hours and all."

"Michael! I'm not good at planning things. Or thinking up things to do." Mia looked at him disdainfully.

"Hey, I'm the one nursing a broken heart, here. You'd think you could make a little bit of a compromise for me the night after my girlfriend cheated on me with some blonde surfer dude." Michael's words were joking, but Mia could tell there was a lot of emotion behind them. At least he was trying to keep himself together.

"Let's watch a movie," Mia suggested. "My choice, though, since you made me decide what we're going to do." She headed down towards the living room, motioning to Michael to follow her. She grabbed two movies off of the shelf where her parents kept their movie collection. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or Beauty and the Beast?" Mia asked Michael. She had figured he needed to be cheered up.

Michael shot her a funny look as he sat down on the couch in front of the television. "Are you crazy? I'm not watching Beauty and the Beast, and you know it. Ferris Bueller is fine," he said. "It's one of my favorite movies ever. It can always cheer me up when I'm down."

Mia smiled. "That was the idea." She placed the movie in, and then stood, facing Michael, debating where to sit.

He saw her contemplating, and patted the space next to him. "Sit next to me," he instructed. Mia loved it when he acted bossy and the authoritative tone his voice would take on whenever he was politely ordering someone around. And she liked being spoken to by him in that fashion, oddly enough. Mia shivered and grabbed a blanket and then threw herself down on the other end of the couch where Michael was sitting.

It was cold inside, and as they were watching the movie, Mia clutched the blanket around her. All the lights in the apartment were turned off, except the light from the kitchen that sort of shone into the living room, placing a light glow around Michael's face. Mia looked over at him and smiled. His eyes were focused intently on the television screen, and he was hugging his knees to his chest. Mia threw some of the blanket at him and shifted her position on the couch, moving closer to Michael. He then also moved closer to Mia, placing some of her blanket over his body.

They were closer, and Mia could smell his fresh scent of soap. She breathed it in, deeply. Remembering that she was going back home to Genovia in a few weeks for a ball, Mia decided that now would be a good time to ask Michael if he wanted to go. He was her friend, after all. "Michael?" she said, tentatively.

He turned his head towards her. "Yeah?" he answered.

"I'm going back home to Genovia in a few weeks, and..."

Michael interrupted her. "You're going back home? I thought you were staying for a whole year!" His face looked confused, and he looked slightly upset.

Mia felt like jumping up and down at the expression on his face. "I wasn't done yet," she laughed. "I'm going home in a few weeks for about a week. My grandmother's throwing this big ball at the castle at home and a bunch of dignitaries are coming, and a lot of my family. She wanted me to go, and I didn't really want to go, so I said I'd only go if I could invite a few people."

Michael nodded. "Yeah."

"So, my point is, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come?" Mia asked, not waiting for a response before she kept talking. "Frank, Rocky, and my mother are coming, of course. Lilly's also invited, and I was thinking of also inviting Tina Hakim Baba and Kenny. I'm just inviting a bunch of friends. You'd stay at the castle and everything and come to the ball and we'd do some fun stuff for the week. The palace in Genovia's really a nice place."

Again, Michael interrupted her longwinded speech. "I'd love to come," he answered, and smiled at her. "I'm honored that you'd even think of asking me."

"Of course I would, Michael," Mia said, smiling back at him. "You're one of my best friends." Breathing in deeply, Mia leaned towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in towards her in what was just a friendly hug. She couldn't help wishing it was more, though, as she buried her nose into Michael's neck, smelling the soap he used every morning and feeling his soft skin.

After a few moments, they pulled away and went back to watching the movie. Mia's skin was tingling. Minutes later, Mia's adrenaline from asking Michael to come with her to Genovia had worn off, and she'd finally gotten back to concentrating on the movie, when the screen suddenly went black and the DVD player turned itself off.

"What just happened?" Mia said, noticing that the light from the kitchen had also went out. A clap of lightning illuminated the living room, accompanied by the loud rumble of thunder in the not-so-far-away distance.

Michael shrugged. "The power's probably out."

"I hate storms," Mia admitted, in a small and timid voice.

Dropping the blanket from around his waist, Michael got up from the couch and smoothed out his pants. "I have to go to the bathroom," he announced. Looking down at Mia, he smiled. "Will you be okay out here for a few minutes by yourself or do you need to come with me?" He asked, teasingly.

She hit him playfully in the arm. "I'm going to go up to the kitchen and make us some hot chocolate," she replied. "The bathroom's down the hallway and to the left."

Michael left, and Mia got up to go to the kitchen. She went to go get the kettle for the hot chocolate, but then, she realized that the power was out and sighed. Reaching into the fridge, she found a carton of milk and poured some into two cups, adding a little bit of chocolate milk powder. They'd have to do with chocolate milk instead of hot chocolate. She reached for two spoons to stir the chocolate milk with and placed them in the cups and began absent-mindedly stirring one cup.

As she was stirring, Michael came up from behind her and stood right beside her, his warm arm pressed against hers. "Is this for me?" he asked, quietly, and when Mia nodded, he began to stir the mixture around with the spoon that was inside the cup. "Thanks."

"I forgot that the power was out, so we couldn't have hot chocolate," she said, laughing a little at her own stupidity, turning towards him and lifting her cup to her lips, taking a small sip.

Michael watched her as she spoke, and then took a sip of his own milk, not breaking eye contact with Mia. He gulped it down, and set his cup down on the counter beside him. "You've got some on your face," he said, softly, laughing.

She looked slightly mortified. "I can't even drink properly," she muttered, and wiped at her face with her hand, missing the chocolate milk completely.

Michael laughed. Nervous and trembling, he stared into her gray eyes and lifted a finger to her face, wiping at the spot where the chocolate milk had spilled onto her soft skin. He didn't know what overcame him at that moment. It might have been the fact that Mia was looking more gorgeous than she had ever looked before in her life, the way the light from the moon was shining down into the kitchen through the slightly open window, and the smell of the rain in the air. The lightning illuminating her face for brief moments.

And she didn't know what had overcome him when he was taking a step closer to her, whispering her name. "Mia," he said, softly, his eyes still locked with hers.

She breathed in deeply, her breath completely uneven. His finger was still laid on her cheek, and he curled his other fingers out so that his whole hand was pressed gently to her face. Michael brought his free hand up to her waist, and pulled her in closer to him, much closer. He could feel her heat radiating from her to him.

Mia was shocked, but she kept her eyes locked with Michael's intense gaze. Hesitantly, she brought her hands up to around his waist, gripping her fingers around his gray hoodie. "Michael?" she asked.

Ever so slightly, Michael shook his head. And then, and then, he leaned down towards her and closed his eyes, his long eyelashes dusting his cheeks and hair falling over his forehead.

Mia knew this all too well, from the previous night.

And this time, she wasn't making the mistake of pulling away. Not this time.

She closed her eyes and waited, feeling Michael draw himself nearer to her. Mia's body tingled with anticipation._ He really was going to kiss her._ And when their lips finally met, Mia felt her whole body radiate with a feeling that was completely unbeknownst to her before this perfect moment.

Michael was running his hand through her hair, his lips pressed to Mia's. She could hardly believe this was happening. Mia ran her hands up and down his back, and then finally brought them up to rest around his neck, pulling him in even closer to her. His hands were weaving themselves through her hair, and Mia thought she had never felt anything as nice. Except maybe his lips against hers.

She felt his tongue gently press against her lips and she gladly opened her mouth. Mia felt as if she was floating on air. Michael was leaned up against her and his hands moved down her back to her waist, hugging her to him as he continued to explore her mouth. This was nothing like kissing Kenny.

Kenny. Mia's boyfriend.

Reluctantly, Mia tore herself away from Michael's lips, moving her head back quickly. A flash of lightning illuminated the kitchen then, and Mia could see Michael's face, clearly. He was confused. A lock of hair had fallen into his eyes, and Mia gently removed one of her hands from his neck and pushed it away, softly. She stared at his lips. The lips that had just kissed hers. They were a perfect shade of pink. And Mia finally knew just how perfect and soft they were.

He smiled down at her, his hands still firmly gripping her waist. "The good news is," Michael said, softly, "all the chocolate milk's gone from your face."

Mia felt as if her knees were going to give out any second, so she was thankful that Michael's arms were still wrapped tightly around her. "Thanks," she responded, quietly.

Michael leaned in again, swiftly, and kissed her lips gently. Quickly. And then he pulled away, smiling at her, his eyes looking deeply into hers. An expression of confusion crossed his face. "What's wrong, Mia?" he asked, concerned, his hands tightening their grip on her waist in a comforting fashion.

But being with Michael like this wasn't comforting her anymore. She stepped back from Michael, causing him to let go of her waist. His hands dropped to his sides, and Michael broke eye contact with her to stare out the open window at the pale moon in the dark night sky, running his hands through his hair, his eyes suddenly turned sad and distant.

"Kenny," she whispered. "My boyfriend."

Michael shook his head.

"How could I do this to him?"


	11. best friend

**Author's Notes: **Please don't hate me for this, readers, but I think this is one of the worst chapters I've ever written. I'm sorry for the long wait between chapters, but I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go with this. I think I've got an idea now, though, and the next chapter should be better than this one. I'll be continuing this throughout the trip to Genovia, up until Mia and Michael finally do actually get together with Kenny completely out of the way.

Anyways, I hope you guys like this horribly atrociously written chapter at least somewhat. I promise the next chapter will be better than this one. Keep up the awesome reviews, I love to read your feedback. Ideas and constructive criticism are welcomed.

The title of this chapter is inspired by the song "Best Friend" by the band Everybody Else, which is an awesome song. I also quoted a line of the song in the story, so I figured I should give it credit.

* * *

Michael's mouth was hanging open in disbelief.

Mia seemed unable to speak. "Michael," she started, pausing to breathe in and out deeply, "Don't you realize what's just happened?" When Michael responded with a blank stare, Mia continued. "I just cheated on Kenny. My boyfriend. With…you," she murmured. "I mean, I've just done the very thing you dumped Judith for doing to you. Technically, in theory, you should hate me for this."

Michael's face was pained as he responded slowly. "But Mia, this is different than what Judith did to me."

Awkwardly and forcedly, Mia laughed. "How is it any different? It's not like you actually like me or anything…"

A silence fell between them.

If that was how she wanted to feel about him, then that was just fine. If Mia wanted to believe that Michael didn't actually like her, that he had just kissed her as a mistake, he'd allow her to do so. If she wanted to pretend that they were just friends, friends who had kissed twice by accident, he wouldn't try to make her see how much he actually, deeply felt for her. And how he'd known there was something different about her ever since the moment they'd met. "I have to go," he said abruptly, his voice cold. Michael could still salvage some dignity out of this entire night. All he had to do was just leave, before he made anything worse.

He turned away from her and walked over to her front door, slipping his feet inside his shoes, his eyes trained on the ground in front of him. Right as he was about to turn the doorknob, he felt Mia's hand on his shoulder gently and her presence beside him. Michael sighed. Her touch was electric. He could feel the warmth from her hand on his shoulder radiating throughout his entire body.

"Don't leave me," she said, pleading. "Please don't leave, Michael."

"Why shouldn't I?" He wasn't prepared to give in to her that easily, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't resist her pleas.

"We need to talk about this," she answered, her hair falling in her face. She dropped her hand to her side.

Michael fought the urge he had to grab her hand, which was now fiddling with the pockets of her pants. "I thought we already did." Michael thought Mia had made it completely clear that she thought that the kisses were just mistakes, just bad judgement on Michael's behalf.

"I don't quite understand something, Michael," she said, a questioning look present in her warm eyes.

He ran his hand through his hair. "What's that?"

She was silent for a moment. "Why did you kiss me?"

How did he know she was going to ask him that? Michael racked his brain for an answer, an answer other than the truthful answer. The truthful answer would just scare her. Because the truth was, Michael liked Mia. He had known that there was something special about her, something special between the two of them, since the day they'd met in the hallway at school.

There was no way, no possible way she liked him back. No, she only thought of him as a friend. Mia only saw him as Michael, Lilly's geeky older brother, the guy who knew how to work with computers but not socialize with people his own age. She'd never see him as a possibility. She'd never see him as… as a boyfriend. "I don't know," Michael lied. He knew exactly why he'd kissed her. He had been unable to resist his urges any longer. "It was just a mistake. I didn't mean to."

"Twice?" Mia asked skeptically, taking Michael completely by surprise. She wasn't usually that assertive about anything.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Michael answered airily.

She laughed nervously. "You kissed me twice. Were both of those times by accident?"

Mia was certainly being assertive that night. Michael hung his head. "Neither of them were by accident," he admitted slowly, fearful of her reaction.

She stood there in silence, thinking. "You meant to kiss me."

"Yeah."

The silence was unbearable. Michael sighed, and opened the door to her apartment, ready to leave.

"Michael."

The tone of her voice, soft and gentle yet firm at the same time, made him stop dead in his tracks, though he didn't respond.

"I meant to kiss you back."

She swiftly, unexpectedly, grabbed his hand with hers and pulled him towards her, placing her other hand on his arm and pressing her lips lightly to his cheek. Mia pulled away, her cheeks flushed a bright red colour and her eyes bright with something Michael had never seen in them before. He smiled shyly at her, and kissed her lips softly, pulling her in even closer and wrapping his arms around her slender frame.

They mutually pulled away after a few moments, each breathing in long, shaky breaths.

Michael couldn't think of anything sweet or eloquent enough to say. What was there to say? He'd basically just told her of his feelings for her. Through his actions, he supposed. He thought he'd been clear enough about how he felt for her.

"So..." Mia said, as if she was trying to get some words out. She looked up at Michael, frowning slightly. "What does this mean?"

He almost laughed at her naivety, although he was taken aback by the question. Mia wasn't usually one to be so direct about such matters. "It means that I like you," he murmured. Taking a deep breath in, he continued, taking a major leap of faith. "I've felt the chemistry between us ever since that day I nearly killed you when I knocked you over in the hallway."

The corners of Mia's mouth turned up slightly into a small smile.

"I guess the timing's just really bad," Michael continued. "With you dating Kenny and all."

Mia swallowed hard. She wanted to tell Michael that she'd break up with Kenny. She'd break up with Kenny to be Michael's girlfriend. He hadn't asked her to, but clearly, that was what he had been hoping that she would say in response. But somehow, Mia couldn't. Mia had always been the type of girl who always took the easy way out. If Mia suddenly broke up with Kenny, there would be questions from Lilly. Questions that Mia didn't have the nerves to face. What if Lilly decided she hated Mia for dating her brother? Mia didn't want to lose her closest American friend just because she wanted to date someone. There would be stares in the hallway, whispers about how that hot Moscovitz boy didn't belong with that geeky looking gigantic princess. There would be changes.

"Yeah," Mia answered, weakly, ignoring the voice inside her which protested, begging her to tell Michael that she'd break up with Kenny for him. "I guess the timing's just wrong."

Michael breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, lowering his head to the floor and staring at his shoes. "I won't tell Kenny about this," he said quietly. "Just remember, Mia, that if you ever decide things with Kenny are over...If you ever decide that it's over with Kenny, I..." Michael was having trouble finishing his sentence. "I'll be around," he said softly, turning to the door and walking out it, taking one last look at Mia as he shut the door quietly behind him.

Mia collapsed against the door, fresh, warm tears spilling out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

* * *

Monday afternoon, Kenny was walking Mia to her G & T class, chatting idly about the rest of the party that Mia had missed out on on Friday night, as well as the anime convention that he'd attended on Sunday. Mia was trying her best to listen and look interested, and Kenny wasn't seeming to notice that she actually wasn't paying any attention to him at all.

Really, Mia's thoughts were on Michael and everything that had happened that weekend. The almost-kiss on Friday night, Valentine's Day. The two, three, four kisses at Mia's apartment on Saturday night. The discovery that Michael actually liked her. Liked her in a more-than-friends, not-platonic sort of manner. The way Mia had always longed to be liked.

Sure, Kenny liked her like that. But he wasn't Michael. He was tall, alright, but he wasn't dark or handsome like Michael. He didn't have that special sparkle in his eyes, he didn't have the distinctive smell like Michael did that Mia adored so much, he didn't have that special something that Michael had that just made Mia want to fall into his arms and never let go. Kenny was a nice guy. He just wasn't Michael.

"Mia?" Kenny's voice interrupted Mia's thoughts. "Mia, where are you going?"

She blinked twice, and she found herself walking right past the open door to Mrs. Hill's classroom, where she was going to class. Kenny was stopped beside the door and looking at her with a funny expression on his face. "What's up with you today, Mia?" He asked, confusedly. "It's like your head's in the clouds. You just walked right past your classroom."

Mia shook her head. "Yeah, I've just got something on my mind," she said vaguely, ignoring Kenny's sudden interest in her private thoughts. "I don't want to talk about it," she continued, half-lying. She did want to talk about it, but not with Kenny. She wanted to talk to Michael. But anyways, what was there to say to even him? She'd already rejected him on Saturday night in favor of her supergeeky boyfriend. There was no way he was going to want to talk to her at all anymore.

Her boyfriend grabbed her hand and pulled her in close to him. She could feel his warm breath on her cheeks, which wasn't a pleasant feeling due to the fact that he had been eating a hamburger loaded with toppings at lunchtime. She tilted her head back discretely, hoping Kenny wouldn't notice. And of course, the ever-clueless boyfriend didn't. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

Mia had no way of escaping it. As Kenny was violating her lips, she heard someone cough and she realized that they were kissing right in front of the doorway to the classroom, blocking entrance to anyone else. She pulled away quickly from Kenny, stepping back, and saw Michael standing there, his hand placed on his hip, annoyance clearly present on his face, contrasting with the sadness and hurt present in his deep brown eyes.

"Seriously, get a room," Michael said, disgustedly vocalizing his annoyance with Kenny's enamorment with public displays of affection, shooting a pointed look at Mia as he walked angrily right in between the two of them and into the classroom.

Kenny's eyes followed Michael's back as he sat down in the classroom, his back facing the couple. He turned to Mia and raised an eyebrow. "I wonder what's on his case today," he muttered. "Michael's not usually like that."

Mia shook her head. "I don't know," she stuttered. She had never been good at lying, but she didn't want Kenny to start questioning things and asking Michael what was going on. She knew Michael had sworn to her that he wouldn't tell Kenny about what had happened between the two of them, but she wasn't sure if she could trust him with that promise anymore. His attitude moments ago had made it clear that Mia wouldn't know what to expect when she was around Michael anymore. As well as the fact that she didn't know whether or not he'd told anyone that he and Judith were no longer an item.

Kenny shrugged, and squeezed Mia's hand quickly, turning to go to his own classroom.

Mia had asked him about the trip to Genovia at lunchtime, and to her displeasure, Kenny had said that he'd love to come and that his parents would surely allow him to. Selfishly, Mia had been hoping that he'd say that he couldn't go so she'd get to spend time with Michael. If Michael was even planning on going anymore.

Mia breathed a sigh of relief at Kenny's departure and walked into the classroom. Lilly wasn't there today, and neither was Boris, so Mia assumed that they were just out together and wouldn't be planning on attending class. It was just G & T; it didn't make a difference anyways. Mia walked over to her usual chair, stopping a few feet away as she realized that she sat by Michael, and Michael's greeting of her just minutes ago had not been friendly.

Hoping for confidence and strength, Mia pulled out her normal chair and sat down beside Michael. He didn't look up at her or acknowledge her presence like he usually did, he merely kept writing in his notebook, his hair falling into his eyes. If she was his girlfriend, if she had have given him the answer he'd wanted that Saturday night, she'd be able to reach over and push that piece of hair out of his eyes, and kiss him softly on the cheek as a greeting. Mia sighed, placing her bookbag on the vacant chair beside her where Lilly usually sat.

"Michael," she said, quietly, so quietly that no one in the classroom except him could hear her.

He stopped writing at her statement of his name, but didn't look up at her or say anything.

She took his pause as a response, and continued. "I'm sorry."

Mia heard him sigh, and then, after a long silence, he turned his head towards her and his eyes met hers. It seemed as if he was deeply concentrating on something to say, but didn't know how to say it. Sighing again, Michael finally spoke. "What do expect me to say?" He said coldly, his voice a whisper.

Shaking her head, Mia replied. "I don't know."

He broke eye contact with her again and his eyes retreated back to his paper. "I admitted I liked you on Saturday night. Which took a lot for me to do, regardless of what you might think. I was afraid you'd reject me, afraid you'd tell me you didn't feel the same." Michael took a deep breath. "I wasn't prepared for you to completely, totally, flat-out reject me and then subject me to seeing you make out with your boyfriend in the middle of the hallway. God, Mia. I thought that you of all people at least had some decency."

Mia could feel her eyes well up with moist tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks, accompanied by that sharp twinge of feeling she got in the top of her nose whenever she was about to cry. "I didn't want to reject you," she whispered whole-heartedly. "I like you a lot, Michael. And not just as a platonic friend."

He rubbed his forehead, messing up his hair slightly. "Just not as much as you like Kenny," he said dejectedly.

"Michael, that's not it," Mia pleaded with him. "I like you. I like you more than I like Kenny, okay?" She said, her voice rising in volume. "I can't break up with Kenny because I'm scared, Michael. I'm scared that Lilly will hate me because I'm in lo... because I like you. I'm scared Lilly will kill me if we date. I'm scared that people will think I'm not good enough for you. I'm scared that people will laugh at me. I'm scared that people will ask me what an awesome, gorgeous, wonderful, smart, funny, great guy like you is doing with a total freak like me." She took a deep breath, exhaling so quickly that she was beginning to feel lightheaded. "I'm just scared, okay, Michael?"

She looked over at him. He was staring at her, his eyes wide with fascination. His eyes were transfixed on hers. Michael looked completely stunned by her admission of her feelings.

But then, it was Mia's turn to be surprised. As she sat there, breathing heavily from her longwinded speech and staring at Michael with a frightened look of terror on her face, she felt Michael's hand reach for hers under the table. He nodded at her bag, then, and began to stand up, collecting his things with his other hand that wasn't holding Mia's.

Picking up her school bag, Mia followed Michael and stood up, slinging her bag across her back, not letting go of Michael's hand. Michael remained quiet, and wordlessly began to walk out of the classroom, pulling Mia behind him gently. She followed him all the way to the front doors to the school, and he dropped her hand to push the door open for her, and then followed her through, shutting it quietly behind him and grasping her hand with his again, as if she was going to fly away if he ever let go.

Michael kept walking, his hand still firmly grasping Mia's, and they turned onto the sidewalk that led away from the school and down to the park a mile or so away.

"Michael?" Mia asked, hesitantly. "What are we doing?"

Michael looked over at Mia and grinned. "We're skipping class, Thermopolis."

"We can't just skip class!" Mia exclaimed. "We're going to get caught. And then we'll get in trouble. What will the tabloids think when they get pictures of me during school hours and I'm clearly not in school, with a boy that the tabloids clearly don't think is my boyfriend?"

"I can see it now," Michael joked. "Headlines all over the nation will be reading GENOVIAN SCANDAL: PRINCESS MIA SKIPS SCHOOL WITH A BOY WHO'S NOT HER BOYFRIEND." Michael's tone turned serious, and his face lost its' childlike smile. "Just a boy who _wants_ to be her boyfriend..." he trailed off quietly, his voice distant, eyes looking away from Mia. Mia could feel his hand tighten around hers. She liked the sensation.

Before Mia knew it, they had reached the park, and Michael guided them towards the swings. Mia sat down on one, smiling, rubbing her black regulation school uniform shoes in the damp sand. Michael sat down at the swing beside her and turned to face her, the serious expression still present on his face. "I want to talk about this," he said, slowly. "I want to talk about us."

Mia watched as her feet dug small holes into the sand underneath her. "Okay," she answered, in a small voice.

He bit his lip. "I know you're scared, Mia." Michael paused, as if he was carefully selecting his words. "But I want you to know that you shouldn't have any reason to be. I'm here for you, Mia. I want to help you in any possible way that I can. And if that means talking to Lilly about us dating, I'll do it. Or I'll help you do it. I'll support you. As for people talking about us, let them talk. I don't care what they have to say, and you shouldn't either. They're just people. Let them say what they want to say. I like you and that's all that matters," Michael finished.

"What about Kenny?" Mia asked, sadly. "I can't just break his heart, Michael. No matter how much I like you, I don't want to put the poor guy through a lot of pain. It's selfish."

Michael sighed, and then turned towards her. "Hey," he said, lifting a hand to her chin, pulling her head up gently to his level. "Don't cry, rainy eyes. Look at me," he commanded, and Mia obeyed. He brushed a tear off of her cheek, and then leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips.

"I want us to be together," Mia said as Michael pulled away.

It was killing Michael on the inside to say these things, but he forced it out regardless, knowing that it was what Mia needed to hear. "If you need time to break it off with Kenny, I'm okay with that. As long as I know that when you're through with him, we can try to make things work out with us. If I know we're going to be together in the end, I think I can make it through without viciously attacking or killing Kenny."

Mia smiled up at him. "Thanks, Michael. I'm glad I have you to help me through this," she said, sincerely. "I've actually been wanting to break up with Kenny for awhile now, but now I actually have some motivation to..."

"Me," Michael replied, smiling deviously.

"Yeah, you," Mia answered, smiling back at him and leaning in to kiss him.


	12. so impossible

**Author's Notes: **Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out! I had a bit of writers' block for awhile and I didn't know what to do.. So yeah, now they're going to Genovia for a week, for that ball. The next few chapters will be centered around the whole trip to Genovia. This chapter's kind of uneventful, but it's necessary in that it's setting up for some of the action that will come in the next few chapters. I wasn't updating because I had a lot of final exams the past week, but now I'm finally finished and it's summer, meaning that I'll have a lot more time on my hands to write, yay!

I'm blown away by the number of reviews I've gotten on this...wow. I can't believe you guys like this that much! Thanks to all of you who've been faithfully reviewing. I love you all, and I promise to have the next chapter out in a few days.

* * *

It was the night before Mia was leaving for Genovia for a week, and she was sitting on her bed, going through piles of clothes trying to decide what to take with her on the trip. Michael was seated on the floor of Mia's bedroom at the foot of the bed, staring up at the television, which was playing some silly Lifetime Channel movie.

Everyone who was going on the trip was at Mia's house sleeping over, already packed and ready to go, because they would be leaving early the next morning straight from the Thermopolis' loft. It was late at night, around one o'clock in the morning, and Mia assumed that everyone else was already sleeping. She herself was tired and wished she could go to bed, but she had been so busy getting everyone else ready and settled in for the night that she hadn't had any time to pack for herself.

Kenny was asleep in the room next door with Rocky, Mia's younger brother, which was where Michael Moscovitz was also supposed to be asleep. However, Michael had sweetly offered to keep Mia company while she packed, stating that he wasn't tired. Mia smiled down at his back, watching him. He was yawning, and Mia could tell that he indeed was tired.

"Michael, you can go to bed," she offered. "I'm almost done packing, and I know you're tired. We have a big day tomorrow," she said, stuffing a few pairs of clean white socks into one of her suitcases. She got up from her place on the bed and sat down beside Michael on the floor, touching his hand with hers. "Thanks for keeping me company, though…"

Michael turned to her and smiled. "Hey, at least it meant that I got to spend some time with you today," he said, kissing her softly on the nose. "I mean, Kenny's been hovering around you constantly lately. I barely even get to see you anymore," he trailed off slightly as he put his arms around Mia's slender frame, resting his head on her shoulder.

Mia began to play with a lock of his soft, dark brown hair, twisting it aroud one of her fingers. "I know," she answered. "I really can't stand how he's always around me lately. He's really been suffocating me," Mia said, tilting her head so that it rested softly on top of Michael's.

His fingers began to play with the hem of her shirt. Mia shivered as the tips of his fingers touched her back. "Why don't you just break up with him already?" Michael suggested, his tone of voice tired, fingers still dancing across the soft skin of the small of her back.

She pulled away from him, her face heated. "I wish it was that easy, Michael," she replied, avoiding his sad eyes. "I mean, every time I try to talk about us breaking up, it's like he senses that I want to break up with him and he gets these huge big puppy-dog eyes that make it impossible to be mean to him. I feel like a heartless wench sometimes."

Michael shook his head and laughed listlessly, emptily. "You're not a heartless wench." He leaned back, resting his hands on the carpet.

"I'm not good at this stuff, okay?" Mia's eyes began to fill with warm tears.

Michael sighed. He couldn't stand it when she cried. And even if he was starting to get frustrated with the fact that she hadn't broken up with Kenny yet, he couldn't deny the fact that he did like Mia and he was willing to wait for her to break up with her boyfriend. He just wished that she could do it faster. They'd been unofficially 'together' for the past two weeks, and Michael was beginning to get tired of her dancing around the issue all the time.

It was almost as if she was lying to Michael. As if she didn't _really_ want to break up with Kenny. Michael was beginning to wonder if she was just stringing him along for her own selfish pleasure.

It wasn't good that he was so damn crazy about this girl. She was beginning to impair his judgment completely.

He stood up and pulled her up with him, pulling her into a long hug. "Don't cry, Mia," he said.

"But you're beginning to get frustrated," Mia said through her tears. "I can tell. You're getting sick of us having to hide our relationship because everyone else still thinks I'm with Kenny, I know you are. And soon I think you're just going to give up on me…" She buried her head into his shoulder. "Don't give up on me, Michael."

"I would never do that, Mia."

She released herself from his embrace and began stuffing things into suitcases haphazardly in an attempt to finish her packing quickly. Mia zipped up all the bags and shoved them to the floor. She then began pulling the covers on her bed down and climbing over to her pillows. Once she had climbed under the covers, Mia patted the space next to her on the bed.

Hesitantly, Michael sat down next to her, leaving a considerable amount of distance between them.

"Turn off the lights," Mia whispered to Michael.

He did as she said and turned to the door, ready to leave.

"Michael?" Her voice was still a whisper, so quiet that Michael hardly heard what she had just said.

"Yeah?" He answered, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

"Stay with me?" She asked.

Michael turned around, incredulous. He walked back over to her bed and stood beside her, looking down at her and straight into her eyes. "Are you sure?" He asked, sure that she could hear his heart thumping loudly from inside his chest.

"I wouldn't ask you if I wasn't," Mia whispered. She shifted positions on the bed, pulling the covers beside her down slightly.

Cautiously, Michael sat down on her bed and slid down into the covers, distancing himself a little from Mia. He was sure she wasn't thinking straight. First of all, her boyfriend was asleep in the next room. What if he came in and found them in this situation? Or, worse, what if Mia's parents found them asleep together in the same bed? Mia would be dead.

And, she'd never be allowed to see Michael ever again.

Blocking these terrible thoughts out his mind, Michael settled down into Mia's bed and moved over so that he was closer to Mia and placed his arms gently around her, his head right next to hers. "Is this okay?" He whispered, right into her ear.

She shivered from the sensation of his breath on her ear. "Perfect," she murmured quietly, shutting her eyes and sighing in contentment.

* * *

The morning sun was filtering through Mia's soft white curtains, illuminating her bedroom in a soft, early morning glow. Michael awoke with a start upon hearing a door slam somewhere in the apartment, and looked around, confused. And then it all came rushing back to him - Mia had asked him to stay and sleep in the same bed as her. Michael blushed and looked at Mia, who was lying across from him facing him, a small smile playing across her face although she was clearly still fast asleep. Her cheeks were flushed a slight pink, and her hair was all tousled. Michael didn't think he had ever seen anyone more beautiful. He sighed. He just wished that she could be his already.

Michael stared at Mia, as if transfixed by her natural beauty. Unable to resist any longer, Michael leaned over and kissed her softly on her perfectly pink lips, delighted to find that they were just as soft as ever. However, this action disrupted Mia's slumber and she awoke slowly, blinking her eyes in confusement as she focused on Michael's form lying beside her, still under the covers. "Michael?" She asked, perplexed.

"Morning," Michael said, with a slow, uncertain smile. "I was just getting up," Michael continued when Mia didn't respond. He pushed the covers back and sat up, but then stopped and looked back at Mia when he felt her warm hand grab his underneath her sheets.

"Thanks for staying with me," Mia said, her voice slightly hoarse as a result of just waking up.

Michael smiled. "But I really do have to get going, before Kenny and Rocky wake up. It's about six in the morning right now, so I should probably get in there and make it look like I slept there. Wouldn't want anyone to get suspicious before the trip even starts..." He trailed off, letting go of her hand and walking over to the door. "See you later."

"Bye," Mia whispered, pulling the covers over her face.

Michael shut the door behind him and tiptoed over to the bedroom right next to Mia's. The door was slightly ajar and Michael prayed silently that Kenny hadn't chosen to wake up extra early that morning. Breathing in deeply, he pushed open the door and peered in, to see both Kenny and Rocky fast asleep in their beds. Sighing in relief, Michael crept over to the bed that he was supposed to sleep in and pulled the covers over him, proceeding to then fall asleep for an hour or so.

He woke up an hour later to find a tall shadow looming over him. Squinting as he opened his eyes, he muttered a curse under his breath. "What the hell is going on?" He asked, blinking open his eyes and sitting up to look around the room. Kenny had been standing right next to Michael's bed and as Michael had sat up, Kenny had retreated slightly and sat down on Rocky's now-vacated bed, his eyes boring straight into Michael's.

"You tell me," Kenny said, a suspicious tone entering his voice. "Where were you all night?"

"What?" Michael asked, confused. Kenny had been sleeping when Michael had entered, hadn't he?

"Oh, come on, Michael. Don't play dumb. You didn't sleep here all night. I woke up at three in the morning to go to the bathroom and you weren't here. So you must have been sleeping somewhere else, or not sleeping at all." Kenny shot a mean look at Michael, and Michael nearly laughed. Kenny was trying so damn hard to be tough that it was just amusing. "'Fess up, Michael."

Michael bit his lip to keep from laughing in light of the hilarity of the situation, but his hands were shaking with nervousness. What if Kenny actually caught Mia and Michael together one of these days? This was getting way too complicated. "I just fell asleep in the living room on the couch," Michael said, stuttering a little bit. "...So I stayed there all night."

Kenny rolled his eyes at Michael. "You're lying," he said, assertively.

Michael was taken aback, having not expected Kenny to be so straightforward about anything. "I'm not lying, Kenny," Michael lied.

"I know you are," Kenny said, getting up from the bed and smoothing the sheets down. "And I'm going to get to the bottom of this." He walked to the door and stood there for a second, pausing before leaving to make one more statement aimed at Michael. "Stay away from Mia, Michael." He opened the door and stepped out. "I mean that." Kenny pulled the door shut behind him, letting it slam shut.

Michael cringed.

* * *

Kenny hadn't been lying to Michael when he said that he wanted Michael to stay away from Mia. On the way to the airport, Kenny had made sure that Mia was sitting by a window and that Kenny was on her other side, despite Michael's efforts to sit beside her. It seemed that Kenny's main goal was to keep Michael away from Mia. And then, as they had been boarding the private plane, Mia had been straying close to Michael, almost as if she hoped to sit by him on the nine-hour flight to Genovia. However, Kenny had always been two steps away from Mia, clinging onto her hand for dear life. And somehow, Michael had gotten pushed out and away from Mia and now there he was, sitting on the plane in a seat by himself as Kenny sat next to Mia, halfway across the plane.

Mia sighed. They had been on the plane for four hours so far, and so far, Kenny hadn't shut up for even five minutes. She had been hoping that her annoyance of a boyfriend would fall asleep sometime during the flight so that she could talk to Michael, but so far, luck had not been with Mia. Mia flipped idly through the pages of the magazine that laid in her lap, looking out the window and away from Kenny.

Mia wondered what was going on. Today, Kenny had been shadowing her even more than he usually did. He was hardly even allowing her to have her own personal space. Which made Mia wonder if Kenny almost knew something was up with Mia and Michael. Mia had caught Kenny shooting mean looks at Michael all morning, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom," Mia stated, interrupting Kenny in the midst of a sentence, rising from her seat and throwing the magazine on the floor.

"I'll walk you there," Kenny said quickly, also rising from his seat.

Mia glared at Kenny. "There is no way in hell I'm letting you walk me to the bathroom, Kenny," Mia hissed. "I need some time to breathe, you know. You can't be around me every second of every day. I'm getting sick of this, you know. You're always hovering around me."

Kenny looked slightly guilty. "I'm just getting the feeling something's up with Moscovitz," he retorted. "It's like he always wants to be around you. And he's always watching you," Kenny muttered. "I don't trust it. I don't trust him. Around you."

Mia almost breathed a sigh of relief. Kenny didn't actually realize that Mia reciprocated Michael's feelings. So he just thought Michael was stalking her. She almost laughed at the thought. "I'll be back in a few minutes," she promised, flashing a weak smile at her boyfriend. "Don't worry about Michael. I can take care of myself."

It wasn't like Mia needed _Kenny_ to protect her from _Michael_.

More like the other way around. Mia needed Michael to keep her sane, from Kenny's controlling and obsessive behavior as of late.

Sometime, and sometime soon, she needed to get some serious courage and just dump the guy already.


	13. one shot, two shots

**Author's Notes:** I'm so sorry this chapter has taken forever. I had a major case of writer's block. I'll try to get another chapter out before Sunday. Anyways, I hope you guys like this one. I don't think it's very well-written, certainly not my best, but there's a fair bit of action in it. Reviews are very much appreciated! 

* * *

Michael's shoes made loud clicking noises on the marble floor as he walked along the darkened hallway. Unexpectedly, he walked into something and banged his shin against the wall. Crying out in pain, he bent down and removed his shoes, rubbing his leg furiously. The castle during the day scared him enough – at night, it was deathly quiet and pitch black. 

It was their first night there, and Michael was trying desperately with no success to find the bathroom. He kept walking, hoping that he wouldn't unexpectedly suddenly wet his pants or anything embarrassing like that. He had to find the bathroom sometime soon. As Michael walked, he spotted a light underneath a door, and walked over to it. He stood outside the door and checked his watch. "Four in the morning," Michael muttered, and frowned. Shouldn't everyone else be asleep by now?

Curiosity getting the best of him, Michael knocked lightly on the door. When there was still no response a few minutes later, Michael pushed open the door and walked inside, to find himself in Mia's bedroom. Only, Mia was nowhere to be found. Michael looked around in awe. They had only been in Genovia for one day, and so far, Michael hadn't been anywhere near Mia, due to Kenny's prevailing thought that Michael was stalking Mia. He shook his head, laughing slightly in bitter contempt for Mia's boyfriend.

Shutting the door quietly behind him, Michael walked inside a little bit further. The floor in Mia's room was hardwood, but he was standing on a bright blue fuzzy rug. Michael sat down and removed his shoes, throwing them to the side a little bit. Remaining seated, his eyes continued their perusal of her bedroom.

It was not what Michael would have expected from Mia. The room was as neat as a pin, and Michael wondered what exactly Mia had been like before she'd moved to the United States. Nothing, and he meant nothing, was out of place in Mia's room. It almost looked as if no one had been living in it – a complete opposite to Mia's room in Helen Thermopolis' New York loft.

Michael let out a cry of surprise as a pair of hands laid themselves on his head and fingers began weaving through his dark hair. He turned around to find Mia standing behind him, a confused smile on her face. "Hey," Michael said softly, smiling up at her. He reached up and grabbed her hand and pulled her down to sit beside him on the rug. "It's a funny story, really…" Michael started, interrupted by Mia's lips on his.

"Shh," she muttered in between kisses.

Michael smiled.

When Mia finally pulled away, eyes shining, she looked at Michael quizzically. "So, what are you doing in my room at four in the morning?" She asked, an amused tone present in her voice. "Just had to see me that badly that it couldn't wait until tomorrow morning, hey?"

In response, Michael rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yeah, right. Wait until tomorrow morning? Kenny thinks I'm stalking you and he won't let you out of his sight for even ten seconds. How am I supposed to get around that?" Michael sighed, despite his playful tone. "I was just up looking for the bathroom," he continued, remembering the fact that he still had to go.

Mia laughed and pointed to a door on the other side of the room. "You can use mine," she offered.

Relieved, Michael jumped up and ran to the door on the other side of the room that Mia had pointed to and walked in to find a bathroom that must have been bigger than his entire bedroom back in New York. He finished, washed his hands, and returned to Mia's room to find her lying in bed, covers pulled up tight around her, her eyes closed delicately.

Michael snuck up to Mia's side and kissed her cheek softly, lying himself down beside her. Her eyes fluttered open and she turned her head and smiled at Michael, who smiled back. He turned over slightly and reached underneath the covers to find Mia's hand and grasp it within his own.

After lying in this position for what seemed like not a long time at all to Michael, Mia's breathing had become regular and he assumed that she'd fallen asleep. Michael smiled to himself and released his hold on her hand, kissing her lightly on the lips as he got up from his place beside her on her bed. He walked over to her door and shut off the lights, closing the door quietly behind him. He hoped he'd get to see more of her tomorrow morning than he had yesterday, due to Kenny's watchful eyes.

* * *

The next morning, Michael woke up to the sun streaming through the windows invasively. Rubbing his eyes furiously and swearing under his breath, he glanced at the clock sitting beside him. Eight in the morning. In other words, much too early for Michael's comfort. He rested his head back on his pillow, pulling the corners in over his ears to block out the sunlight. All efforts to do so were fruitless, however, and Michael resigned himself to waking up.

He showered quickly in the bathroom down the hallway, and then got dressed for the day in some comfortably tight black pants, a black canvas belt with a silver buckle, and a light blue Desaparecidos shirt, along with a black pair of converse chuck taylors. He looked himself up and down in the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up slightly and pulling some to rest across his forehead. Mia had told him she liked it best that way. Satisfied, Michael smiled at his reflection confidently and headed down to the dining room where breakfast was to be served.

Upon his arrival, Michael found that Kenny, Mia, Grandmere, Tina, and Lilly, were all already sitting down to eat. Mia looked up when she heard Michael enter, and flashed him a secretive smile, followed by an apologetic look when her eyes left his to land on Kenny, who sat directly to her right, his hand firmly grasping hers. Michael sighed. Tina sat on Mia's other side, and Michael resigned himself to a spot at the table directly across from Mia.

Seconds after Michael sat down, a man in a stark white uniform, crisp and clean, sat a plate full of breakfast food down in front of him. Michael looked up in surprise and thanked the man, stuttering slightly. Across the table, Kenny laughed at Michael.

Michael rolled his eyes and dug into his breakfast, ignoring Kenny completely.

And then, he was whispering in Mia's ear. Mia giggled, slightly nervously. Michael shot Kenny a glare, but Kenny didn't seem to notice, as he was too busy playing with Mia's long, straight, shiny hair. Michael dropped his fork on the table loudly, hoping that the noise would catch Mia's attention and pry her away from her disgusting boyfriend.

The plan failed. Michael sighed. "What are we doing today?" Michael asked, impatiently, to no one in particular.

Mia leaned away from Kenny and as a result, Kenny righted himself in his seat and unlaced his fingers from Mia's to continue eating his breakfast. Michael smiled smugly to himself.

"I think we're going for a walk this morning..." Mia started. "At least, Kenny, Lilly, and Tina wanted to go for a tour of the castle grounds. If you wanted to come, you're definitely welcome to," she offered, a smile lighting up her face as she made eye contact with Michael.

Lilly looked back and forth between the pair, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Why would Michael want to spend the day hanging out with us?"

Michael shrugged, trying to feign nonchalance. "I have nothing better to do," he said, shrugging, hoping that he sounded non-committal and not at all like someone who was completely after someone else's girlfriend.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She didn't look convinced by Michael's lame answer.

Mia sensed the tension in the air and quickly changed the subject. "I'm so done with this breakfast," she said abruptly. "Is everyone else done? Because if we are, I'm totally up for showing everyone around right now, if you guys are ready to go."

The general consensus was that everyone was done their breakfast. Michael no longer had any appetite for the pancakes that laid in front of him due to the disgusting outright displays of affection between Princess Mia and her official royal consort at the breakfast table. He pushed his plate away and got up from the table, following Mia and the rest of her friends out of the dining room. They stopped once they reached a large, open space near the front door of the castle.

Mia coughed and spoke up. "I just need to go get a jacket from my room, so I'll be back in a few minutes. And if anyone else needs to go get anything right now, you guys should do that and then we'll meet back here when everyone's done that." She turned and walked towards the stairs and began to climb them.

As for Michael, he had grabbed a red thick hooded sweatshirt before leaving his room, because he knew that Genovia in the wintertime could probably be kind of cold outside, and just in case they were going outside, he'd be prepared.

Tina sat down on the floor with Lilly and the pair quickly began whispering about something. Kenny was wandering around aimlessly, and then after a few minutes of that, he wandered off and out of Michael's sight. Sighing, Michael sat down on the floor alone and waited.

* * *

Mia went into her closet and grabbed a black pea coat and slung it over her shoulder. She stood there for a minute, looking off into space, letting her thoughts drift to her situation with Michael and Kenny. It wasn't fair, what she was doing. It wasn't fair to either Michael or Kenny. Michael was being patient with her, and she had sworn to Michael that she would break up with Kenny for him. Why couldn't she? It wasn't as if she actually liked Kenny anyways. For some weird reason, she was just absurdly concerned with not hurting his feelings.

But while she was trying so hard to not hurt Kenny's feelings, she was hurting Michael. And she could tell that every time Kenny held Mia's hand or whispered in Mia's ear or worse, _kissed_ Mia, Michael tried not to notice, but on the inside, it was killing him.

A tear escaped from Mia's eye, and she brushed it away. She had to be back down in the main foyer to meet her friends. Mia closed her closet and ran out her bedroom door, shutting it loudly behind her. She ran towards the stairs, but was stopped abruptly when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her from behind. She giggled when the person blew quickly and softly into her ear.

Mia closed her eyes and turned herself around in his arms and kissed his lips, gently at first but then deepening the kiss slightly. She pulled away after a few moments, her cheeks flushed and her eyes still closed. "Michael," she said, distinctively and clearly. She felt her assailant pull away from her slightly.

"What did you just call me?"

Mia opened her eyes. "Oh, shit," she said, under her breath, as she looked guiltily into Kenny's angry eyes. "I didn't mean it... I thought you were someone else."

Kenny's eyes narrowed. "Why would you think I was Michael?" He let go of her and let his arms fall to his sides. "Damn it, Mia, I'm your boyfriend. And I'm demanding to know what's up with you and Moscovitz. I'm not stupid, you know. I can tell that something's up between you two and you're just not telling me what it is."

Out of the corner of her eye, Mia spotted Michael coming up the stairs. "Hey, guys, what's going on?" Michael asked, a concerned tone in his voice. Probably due to the way that Kenny was staring angrily at Mia and Mia was about to cry.

Kenny spoke up before Mia could. "Mia called me by your name when I came up and kissed her in the hallway a few minutes ago. Maybe you want to explain to me what the hell this is all about? I'd really like it if someone could." Kenny finished.

Michael feigned innocence and widened his eyes. "I have no idea why Mia would do that," Michael said airily, shooting a glare at Mia. "I don't have any feelings for Mia and she doesn't have any feelings for me. You're just being a paranoid freak, Showalter," Michael finished, and patted Kenny's shoulder condescendingly, laughing to himself. "Now can we get over this third-grade drama and go already? Tina and Lilly are getting anxious."

Kenny stomped away from both Mia and Michael and walked down the stairs ahead of them, his back arched and head held high. Mia looked over at Michael, her eyes filling up with tears. "Michael, why did you say that to me? That's not the way I feel, and you know it."

Michael sighed and quickened his pace, leaving Mia to walk down the stairs by herself. Truthfully, he'd said those things because he was getting upset with Mia. And he was beginning to wonder whether or not she'd actually break up with Kenny or if she was just stringing Michael along, playing a game in which she controlled the emotions of two unsuspecting boys. Michael didn't like being played with. Especially not when he felt the way that he did about Mia.

Wondering what on earth she'd just done, Mia walked down the stairs listlessly.

* * *

"And this is the lake," Mia said, leading the group of her friends up one of the docks on their small lake. It was peaceful and calm out on the water, and the sun reflected off the clear blue water. The lake was surrounded by trees that had been planted years ago and now were tall and reached up into the sky majestically. This dock was one of Mia's favorite places to just come and sit and be alone. She'd spent many hours out here by herself. The royal family owned a few small recreational boats, and they were all tied up at another dock down a few hundred meters.

Lilly coughed and spoke up. "Wow...I think this is the most beautiful place you've shown us today, Mia," she said, her voice clearly in awe.

Tina nodded. "Yeah," she echoed.

Michael kept his distance from Mia, and he noticed that Kenny was doing the same thing. But when Kenny walked off with Tina and Lilly to go see some ducks that had gathered on the other side of the trees, he thought he'd take initiative once he and Mia were alone to talk to her. They needed to talk. There were things that they needed to get straight with each other. And if Mia wasn't going to start conversation with Michael, Michael would take matters into his own hands.

When Kenny, Lilly, and Tina had disappeared from sight, Michael approached Mia from behind. She was standing near the edge of the dock and just staring out onto the water, her hair blowing behind her in the warm wind.

"Mia?" He said, softly.

She turned around to face him, and Michael caught sight of the fact that she'd been crying. His heart nearly broke as she lifted a hand to her face and wiped away her tears. Her eyes were red and blotchy, her cheeks stained with tears. "Oh, Michael," she said, in a sad voice, "I've ruined everything. I've messed everything up."

Michael couldn't deny it. And even though she had been crying, Michael couldn't deny the fact that he was still kind of angry with her. Angry, as well as frustrated. "Yeah," he said. "You kind of have." He knew it was mean, but he couldn't help himself. He was just so hurt by her. "I'm getting sick of waiting for you, Mia. You said you'd break up with Kenny. And now I'm beginning to doubt whether you were actually being truthful, or just lying to me."

Mia's voice rose, and she stepped towards Michael aggressively. "Why would I lie to you, Michael?"

Michael spoke back to her in a heated tone. "I don't know, Mia! Why would you lie to me? Are you just playing some sort of stupid game where you get to control what Kenny and I do? Do you get some sort of sick pleasure out of hurting me? Damn it, Mia, I like you a lot and I'm sick of you toying with me like this!"

Mia's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm not playing any sort of game," she cried. "You don't understand what it's like for me at all, Michael! I can't just break up with him. I don't want to hurt him."

"Don't you care about not hurting **me**?" Michael shouted. "Or are Kenny's feelings all that matter here?! Because that's the impression that I'm getting from you, Mia. I'm hurt, by you, and no one seems to care about that. You don't. You said you liked me, and you don't even act like it anymore!"

Michael was breathing hard, and he knew he'd almost gone too far. He couldn't even look at Mia's face because he knew that he'd hurt her with his angry statements. He'd yelled at her.

But it was the truth, what he'd said.

For once, he had just let her know exactly what he was feeling. And in some sick form, it made Michael feel better. He'd just gotten everything off his chest. Everything that he'd been keeping inside since he and Mia had expressed their feelings for each other a few weeks ago.

After a few moments of tension-filled silence, Mia spoke up so quietly Michael had to lean closer to her to hear her. "I do like you, Michael. And it was never my intention to hurt you. Ever."

Michael's resolve to remain angry with her crumbled as she spoke with such a dejected, defeated tone. He sighed, running his hands through his hair. She was standing not even a foot away from him now, and he could feel the warmth eminating from her. He couldn't stay mad at her.

He held out his arms to her, and she looked up at him with shining eyes and stepped closer to him, resting her head just below his shoulder, wrapping her own arms around him. "I'm sorry for yelling at you," he whispered in her ear.

His breath tickled against her ear, and Mia giggled quietly, despite herself. "Forgiven," she said softly, and leaned her face up to his.

He met her waiting lips with his, in a soft and delicate kiss filled with his love for her. Love? He pushed the thought out of his mind as he continued to kiss her. He didn't need to think about that right now. Mia's lips pushed against his desperately. Michael smiled. This was how it was supposed to be. If only she'd break up with her boyfriend already.

Suddenly, both of them heard a clanking sound at the end of the dock and as a result, they pulled away from each other's lips, their arms remaining wrapped around each other tightly. Michael looked down at Mia, who was staring in disbelief and horror at the sight at the end of the dock. His eyes followed the direction where she was looking.

Kenny was standing by himself at the end of the dock, his eyes wide, his expression one of disbelief, yet complete understanding.

* * *


	14. musicbox superhero

The dinner table was deadly silent that night. After the incident, Kenny had ran to his room before Mia or Michael had a chance to explain or make up an explanation that would satisfy him (not that there really was one that could have) and he hadn't came out since. Both Mia and Michael had attempted to talk to him through the door, but their words wouldn't be heard by him. 

Lilly and Tina hadn't said a word all night, either. They had come out to the dock upon hearing the commotion Kenny made upon seeing them together to see Mia and Michael still standing there with their arms wrapped around each other, wearing guilty expressions. They'd put the pieces together. And it was like they didn't know what to say to anyone. Mia assumed Lilly was angry at her for hooking up with Lilly's own brother and also assumed that Tina was probably also angry, but for the different reason that Mia had neglected to tell her about her and Michael's secret love affair. It was the sort of thing that Tina probably would have thrived over.

Finally, Mia coughed weakly, unable to stand the silence any longer. Michael stopped mashing his fork into his potatoes and put it down on the table. Lilly threw Mia a quick, haughty glance with cold eyes. Tina looked at Mia with a flash of sympathy and a slight smile. "Look, guys," she started. "I.. I just don't know what to tell you."

"You could start with apologizing to me," Lilly said loudly, in a rude tone of voice. When she was met with Mia's confused expression, she continued. "You know, for pretending to be my friend when you were really just using me as an excuse to mack on my brother. That's low, you know. Really low. Using me to get close to Michael. I thought you were cooler than that."

Michael didn't jump in to defend Mia. He just looked down at his plate, his big brown eyes empty and his dark brown hair falling into his face.

"I'm so sorry, Lilly," Mia said. "I never did that, I swear. I'm really glad we became friends. I would never do that to you."

Lilly looked over at Mia meanly. "We only became friends because you saw my brother and thought he was hot or something," she said, shuddering slightly as she mentioned her brother. "Easy way in, hey? Become friends with his sister and you've got it made." She slammed her fork down on to the table. "I'm done. I'm going to bed." With that, she got up and stalked off.

Tina looked down uncomfortably. "Yeah, I think I'm going to go to bed, too, guys. 'Night," she said, walking out the door.

Mia pushed her plate aside and put her head down on the table. Seconds later, her shoulders started heaving up and down and Michael came over and kneeled beside her. "Do you want to talk?" he whispered, his hand rubbing her back. "Come on," he grabbed her hand. "Let's go up to my room. We'll work this out together."

Mia nodded and rose, following Michael to his room. He shut the door behind them and went over to sit on the bed and motioned for Mia to come sit beside him. She walked right over to him and into his open arms, settling herself down into his lap and burying her face into his warm chest. Her tears had subsided by then, and Michael kissed her cheek gently.

"I just don't know what to do, Michael," she said miserably. "I wanted everyone to find out, but not like that. I wanted to tell them and I wanted them to be happy for us. I mean, I know Kenny wouldn't have been happy for us ever, but that's even the worst way for him to find out. And Lilly, she's going to hate me forever. I didn't even know you were her brother when I first met her!"

"Shhhhh," Michael responded comfortingly, running his fingers absentmindedly through her hair.

Mia turned her eyes to Michael. "Why do you even want me?" She trailed off. "I mean, I couldn't even break up with Kenny for you, Michael. I couldn't even give you that. And I'm not pretty enough. Or smart enough. You could do so much better."

Michael shook his head, his expression confused. In response, he placed his hand behind her neck and used it to draw her face closer to his. She willingly obliged, and their lips met. Mia wondered how each time they kissed, it was just as amazing as the first time it had ever happened. After a few moments, Michael pulled away a few inches and rested his forehead on hers, his eyes still closed and eyelashes dusting his cheeks softly. "You're perfect, Mia."

"What?" she asked, almost silent.

"I take all of this from you because I just know it, Mia. I know you're special. It's different from those other girls I've dated, you know? I can just feel it. You fit in my arms. Your hands fit in mine perfectly. We just work. And we're meant for each other," he finished, smiling shyly.

She responded by kissing him again. "So what do we do?"

He turned her around so that her back was facing him and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I think you should talk to Lilly alone. She won't care what I have to say. I'd say you should give her some time to cool down. Tina will be the easiest to talk to. I'll go with you for that one. We could probably do that tonight. And Kenny, well, that you've got to do by yourself."

Mia nodded. "Let's go talk to Tina."

They got up and walked down the hallway towards the room Tina was staying on. Mia knocked on the door softly. "Tina? Can we talk?" she asked, timidly.

The door opened in response and Tina half-smiled at them as they stood in her doorway, holding hands. "Come in, guys." She sat down on her bed and discarded the romance novel that had been lying there. Mia and Michael took a seat on the floor.

It was silent for a moment, and then Mia spoke. "Listen, Tina, I'm really sorry."

Tina looked confused, and then smiled. "For what?"

It was Mia's turn to look confused. "I thought you were mad at me."

Tina shook her head and laughed. "Not at all! I just didn't know how to respond. And even if I was angry, it would have been just because you didn't even tell me one of the most important things that has happened to you this year. I mean, hello, you hook up with the guy of your dreams and you don't even tell me?"

Michael smiled and poked Mia in the side. "Guy of your dreams?" he said with a playful smirk, cocking his head to the side innocently.

Mia blushed. "I'm sorry for not telling you.. I just didn't know what we were."

Tina leaned forward. "Do you know what you guys are now?"

She looked at Michael, and Michael smiled and took her hand, squeezing it gently and rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. "I...I'm breaking up with Kenny," Mia said, unsteadily. She rolled her eyes and tried again. "I'm breaking up with Kenny. I'm doing it tonight. I'm sick of pretending."

Tina squealed. "Go for it, babe!"

* * *

Telling Tina had went a lot better than they had both imagined it would go, and it gave Mia a surge of confidence. "Well," she said, turning to face Michael. They stood outside of Kenny's door. Michael looked at Mia and smiled, and then gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I love it when you do that," she said. 

"I know," Michael smiled. "You can do it. Just don't back down. I'll be waiting for you in your room," he said, slowly walking away from her. "Meet me there as soon as you're done, okay?"

Mia nodded, and knocked on Kenny's door as Michael walked off in the general direction of Mia's room.

After a few minutes of knocking, Mia gave up and just turned the doorknob, walking into Kenny's room unnannounced. He was sitting there on the bed, his eyes red and splotchy. Crumpled tissues laid on the bed in a circle around him. Unable to stop her reflexes, Mia crinkled her nose in distaste.

He looked up at her and frowned, his eyes glaring at her. "What are you doing here? I think you've caused enough trouble today."

Mia paused, considering for a split second running away, out the door just behind her. But after remembering Michael's kisses, she shut the door behind her and walked over to Kenny's bed and sat down at the foot of it. "Listen, Kenny, I'm really sorry about what happened today," she started. "But the truth is, it's been going on for awhile."

"Is this supposed to be making me feel better?" Kenny said, sniffling.

Mia shook her head. "No, it probably won't. But I can't keep sacrificing my happiness because I don't want to hurt your feelings. I have to do what's going to make me happy, Kenny. And if you really liked me, you'd want me to be happy. Even if it was with someone else. Kenny, Michael makes me really, really happy. He's right for me."

Kenny glared at her.

"So... what I'm saying is that we have to break up. I need to be with Michael. I'm going to be with Michael."

Kenny's expression had changed from one of anger to one of sadness. "But Mia," he said with puppy-dog eyes, "I love you."

Mia shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kenny. I'm really sorry. We're over."

And with those final words, Mia turned and walked out of Kenny's room and out of her relationship with him.

Tingles ran down her spine as she realized that she was finally free to be Michael Moscovitz's girlfriend.

* * *

Mia arrived at her room a few minutes later and walked in. "Michael?" she called. "Michael, are you here?" She looked around and saw no sign of her dream guy anywhere in her room. Confused, she walked over to her bed and collapsed on it, then finding a piece of paper lying on the bed.

Puzzled, she opened the envelope that said 'Mia' on the front in neat writing. Michael's. She unfolded the paper inside, which simply read 'Meet me in the courtyard garden.'

Mia smiled to herself and put it in her pocket and practically skipped down to the courtyard. She walked out and into the dark, expansive garden. "Michael?" she called out to the darkness, again. "Michael?"

Straining her ears to listen for a response, she heard soft guitar music coming from further in the garden. Hugging her arms to herself, she walked over to the place the music was coming from. She'd forgotten that it was night and it had gotten colder. In her excitement, she hadn't brought a sweater.

As Mia came up on the courtyard's fountain, she found the source of the soft music. Michael was sitting on a bench beside the fountain, which was lit up as it was every night. He'd arranged some candles around the bench and there was a blanket sitting beside him. He was playing the guitar and singing along softly. And he looked like an angel.

Mia stopped and stood there, a smile spreading across her face. She didn't want to interrupt him. The trees were all lit up, the candles, the fountain, the music.. It was all just so perfect. Absolutely perfect. She was entranced by it.

Finally, Michael looked up from his guitar and broke Mia from her trance. "Hey," he said softly, still playing his guitar softly. "Come here," he continued, patting the seat on the bench beside him.

She walked over to him and sat down. Her eyes glistened with tears. He threw the blanket over the two of them.

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close. "What's wrong?" he asked, gently wiping a tear from her cheek. "Did it go okay? I mean, did it happen, did you actually...?"

Mia paused and took Michael's free hand in hers. "Yes."

A smile brighter than one Mia had ever seen before spread across Michael's face. He kissed her quickly then, softly and sweetly. "Why are you crying, then?"

"This, Michael. Thisis just so perfect.. I can't believe you did this. I mean, I thought we were just going to watch a movie in my room or something. Nothing special. Not special like this. You're just awesome."

Michael smiled. "You like it?"

She nodded. "Love it."

"Anything for you." He blushed. "You're going to think this is really stupid, but...do you want to dance?"

"Now? Right here?" Mia asked.

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be," Michael responded shyly.

"Me either," whispered Mia.

He stood up and then extended his hand to her. "May I have this dance, princess of my heart?" he said, smiling down at her goofily.

She answered him by standing up and falling into his arms. Could this night be any more perfect? She was slow-dancing in the garden with Michael, while Michael softly sang into her ear. His breath tickled and sent shivers down her spine.

Michael finished singing, and pulled away a few inches. He gazed into Mia's eyes a few moments. It was slightly disconcerting, but spine-tingling and awesome and beautiful and perfect all at the same time. She'd never felt these things before.

He kissed her again, a little bit longer.

And when he pulled away, he spoke again. "Mia," he said playfully. "So, I guess you're single now?"

She smiled giddily. "Single and looking," she answered pointedly.

"It's kind of silly to ask this, but I want it to be really special for you so I'm going to sacrifice my dignity and pride a little for you." He lifted his hand to her head and fiddled with her hair. Nervously, he continued. "Mia, do you want to be my girlfriend?" He paused and then rushed on. "I mean, I thought I should ask because I didn't know and I thought you might like to be asked and..."

Mia interrupted by pressing her lips against his passionately. "I thought you'd never ask, Michael."

He grinned.

Author's Note: Hey, look, I'm still alive! Imagine that! Review?


	15. it's good to be in love

Author's Note: So...the end. I lied, said there would be a couple more chapters but instead I just gave it all to you in one big long chapter rather than a few short ones. I hope you all liked the story. I've got an idea for my next story already, and I'm really excited about it. Look for it in the coming weeks! I'm also considering possibility of continuing this one in a sequel, but we'll see about that...

* * *

A loud, pounding knock at Mia's bedroom door was her unpleasant awakening from a short sleep last night. She and Michael had stayed up until almost five in the morning. Talking, kissing, laughing, cuddling, kissing, making out, watching movies, kissing... Mia smiled, rubbing her bleary eyes and checking her bedside clock. Nine-thirty. Meaning that she'd had five and a half hours of sleep.

Barely enough to perform her princess duties on. Luckily, today was just another day of fun and relaxation with her friends at Mia's Genovia castle. Mia laughed out loud bitterly to herself. Fun? Relaxation? Who was she kidding?

She had to talk to Lilly. As much as she didn't want to, she knew it was the right thing to do. Lilly would be stubborn, she would jump to conclusions, she would be angry and overexaggerate everything, but Lilly was still Mia's best friend. And Mia couldn't stand her being mad at her. Remembering the knock on the door at once, Mia leapt up from her bed and ran blindly towards her bedroom door, pulling it open in haste. Hoping to see Michael standing there.

No such luck. Mia's best friend stood there, wearing a stony expression. "We need to talk," she demanded, and barged right into Mia's room, slamming the door shut behind her. Her hair was a mess, she was still in her pyjamas, and she looked like she hadn't slept a wink at all the previous night. Lilly collapsed down onto Mia's bed.

"Explain."

Mia looked at Lilly, puzzled. "Lilly? You were the one who just came in here and told me we had to talk. So, you kind of initiated it. Which means you probably have something to say... don't you?"

Lilly frowned at Mia. "No, you have some explaining to do. Tell me how long this has been going on. Tell me why you didn't tell me. Tell me why you chose my brother, of all people, to cheat on your boyfriend, who loves you, by the way, with. Start from the beginning, and don't leave anything out."

"I just woke up, Lilly," Mia moaned.

Her response was a cold glare and a menacing frown.

"Okay, fine," Mia relented. "I didn't tell you about me and Michael before because I thought you'd freak out. I knew you'd react like this. So I kept it a secret. Also, I didn't tell you because I didn't want Kenny to find out. I wanted to tell him on my own time."

Lilly interrupted. "I'm your best friend! I wouldn't tell your boyfriend!"

"No, but you'd be mad at me for liking your brother. And Lilly, it wasn't like you made it out to be. I didn't use you as a way to meet your brother. I didn't even know he was your brother when you and I became friends. Believe me, that first time I ran into him in your hallway, I was pretty surprised to see him there."

Mia thought she saw Lilly's expression soften a bit. "Listen, Lil, I'd never do anything to hurt you. It's just that... I don't know, I started talking to Michael a lot more and then I realized that I really, really liked him. I never really wanted to date Kenny. I don't know. You know me, I felt guilty and didn't want to say no to him." Mia looked down at her hands, realizing how wrong her actions had been. "But Michael. Then there was Michael, and I just couldn't say no to him."

Lilly was silent for a moment.

"Lilly, please. You've got to believe me. I never, ever used you to get closer to your brother. I'd never do that to you." Mia's eyes began to fill with tears. "You're the best friend I've ever known, and I never want to lose that."

Again, Mia's words were met with Lilly's silent.

"And that's all I have to say."

Lilly breathed in and out deeply. And then she spoke, softly. "Are you in love with him? My brother?"

Mia's eyes widened and she went to sit down beside Lilly on her bed. "I don't know, Lil. How do you know when it's love?"

"You just know." Lilly paused. "Are you?"

Mia thought for a moment, which was ironic. Because she knew in her heart, she didn't need to think about it. The answer was clear. And she knew the answer better than she'd really ever known anything else in her entire life. "Yes," she said, softly.

Lilly smiled. "You and Michael really deserve each other, Mia. I'm not mad at you. Or him. I just wish you could have told me. I guess I would have reacted like you thought, though. I would have needed some time to get used to it. But really, there's no one I'd rather see you with more."

"You don't know how much that means for me to hear you say that, Lil," said Mia, smiling.

* * *

The days passed by quickly. Kenny stayed away from Michael and Mia, often opting to stay in his guest room and play video games rather than spending time with the others. When he did spend time with them, his hours were spent sitting away from the group, scowling at Michael and Mia, who were trying not to rub it in Kenny's face too much that they were together now.

The rest of the group was having a great time. They played huge games of extreme hide and seek in the castle, hung out in each others' rooms until the wee hours of the morning talking and laughing and playing juvenile games of truth or dare, went swimming in the castle's swimming pool, had picnics in the royal Genovian castle gardens... Though it had gotten off to a rocky start, it had truly been a wonderful vacation. A vacation Mia would never forget, she thought as she smiled into her mirror on their last afternoon in Genovia.

The important ball was tonight and the group was going back home to New York the next morning. For once in her life, Mia was actually excited about going to a ball. She never had been back when she lived here. But then, she hadn't had tons of awesome friends who'd be going with her. No, she had been forced to socialize with other young royals and children of diplomats.

For this ball, she had the prettiest dress she'd ever owned in her life to wear. Actually, the prettiest dress she'd ever seen. It was a gorgeous shade of deep blue like the ocean that reflected a dark, jade green when she moved. It was long, all the way down to the floor, and strapless at the top. A long straight line of small pearl buttons ran down the back of the dress. Simple, but very elegant. Beautiful.

As she sat staring into the mirror thinking about the upcoming night, Paolo, Mia's personal stylist, burst in her bathroom door and immediately called in his assistants. "Amelia!" he exclaimed, fawning over her. "It has been much too long, much too long, princess!" Tsking audibly, he continued. "Just like your hair is much too long. Do they have no stylists in New York, Amelia?"

He turned to his assistants, leaving Mia no time to respond. A small smile crept across her face. He hadn't changed in the least. "Gretchen! Helga! Prepare some blonde dye!" He weaved his fingers through her hair, concentrating hard.

After what seemed like hours, Paolo finally finished with Mia. "You can look now, Princess. And thank me later," he said dramatically, as he gathered up his assistants and made his exit. "I am on to work on your friends, as the dowager princess has asked me to attend to them as well for tonight."

Mia walked back into the bathroom and was surprised to see her reflection. Paolo hadn't cut very much length from her hair, but he'd dyed it back to its glimmering, pretty blonde shade and curled it in wide sections, leaving it falling down on her shoulders. Her face had been bronzed, eyebrows plucked, lips glosses, eyes shadowed and lined, cheeks blushed..

Michael was going to die when he saw her.

Seriously. He was going to die. Mia had never seen herself looking as pretty. "Thanks, Paolo," she murmured to herself, fingering a loose curl.

Mia went back into her bedroom and changed into her dress. She walked over to her dresser to find some jewelry to match the gorgeous dress and the simple silver sandals she wore and found an unfamiliar, ornately decorated box sitting on top of it. She opened it and gasped. A beautiful, white gold necklace made of an intricate design of sapphires and diamonds along with matching earrings gleamed up at her.

The family jewels, of course. Mia had worn them before, to her many balls and important affairs before she'd left the country last year. But never these. Grandmere had always told her she was saving them for a special occasion. Mia had assumed that meant she would never get to wear them.

A note fluttered out from the box and Mia caught it before it hit the floor.

Unfolding the stiff, clean beige-coloured paper, Mia read the note inside.

"Amelia,

It's time for you to have these. You have made me proud.

Love, Grandmere."

It was enough to bring tears to her eyes. These were possibly the kindest words she had ever heard from Grandmere. Though there was no time for crying now. The ball would be starting. Mia could hear the guests arriving and the gentle harp music playing below and she took one last look at herself in the mirror, admiring the jewels Grandmere had given her and the beautiful dress she wore. Sighing in content, she walked slowly out of her room and down the hallway towards the main staircase, where the important guests were given their introductions.

Mia stood at the balcony for a moment, looking down at the people below. She spotted a few of her friends. Kenny, sulking in the corner holding a glass of champagne. She had no idea who had given him that. From the looks of it, that one glass probably wasn't going to be his last of the night. Tina, talking to some cute prince Mia vaguely recognized as Lilly stood beside, looking bored, although pretty. Paolo had done a good job on both of them.

She didn't see Michael anywhere, so she sighed and began to walk down the stairs. "Her Royal Highness, Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Princess of Genovia," the man announced as she walked down the stairs and into the ballroom below. Mia smiled graciously as the majority of the guests turned and looked up at her.

Immediately upon her entrance of the ballroom, Lilly and Tina descended upon her, both exclaiming and talking very fast at the same time. "You look so gorgeous, Mia," Tina gushed. "Your hair! And the dress! That dress is the most beautiful dress I've ever seen," she trailed off, awestruck.

"Please," Mia said, laughing. "You guys look great too!"

Tina's shiny black hair was in a beautiful updo and she wore a pretty pink ball gown with a fluffy skirt covered in beads. Lilly was wearing a green dress that went straight all the way down to her ankles and was held up by thin straps at the shoulders. "Your stylist, Paolo? He's a miracle worker," Lilly said, laughing. "I didn't even mind getting my makeup done by him!"

"Yeah, and you look fabulous," Mia laughed.

"Just wait until Michael sees you..." Tina said, smiling.

Mia blushed. "Where is he?"

Tina shrugged.

"He's around here somewhere," Lilly answered. "I'm going to go get a drink. I'll see you guys around later," she said, walking in the direction of the refreshments.

The prince Mia had a vague recollection of meeting previously came up to Tina at that moment and whispered something in her ear. Tina giggled, and turned to Mia. "Hey, Mia, I'm going to go off and dance with Henry," she said, already walking away.

Mia sighed. This was great. Where the heck was her boyfriend?

* * *

As her friends were gone off and having a great time, Mia took a seat by herself off the dance floor and talked to the random people that passed by every few minutes to initiate some small talk with the princess. Grandmere came by, and Mia thanked her by grabbing her and giving her a great big hug, which surprised Grandmere to a great extent. But no Michael. He was nowhere to be found.

When her cousin Rene came up and asked her to dance moments after Grandmere had left her side, she reluctantly agreed. She had been hoping to share the first dance of the night with Michael. Rene whisked Mia off on to the dance floor. At least he was a good dancer, Mia thought as she whirled around the floor in Rene's arms.

Towards the end of the song, Mia felt a slight tap on her shoulder and stopped dancing. She turned around and there he was. Michael, in all his shining glory. Brown hair shining under the candlelit dance floor, chocolate eyes twinkling, his face in his adorable half-smile. And in a gorgeous tuxedo that he just looked born to wear.

Rene got the clue very quickly when Mia's face burst out into a smile upon seeing Michael and walked away.

The half-smile Michael had been wearing turned into a much, much larger smile when he took Mia's whole appearance in. He stared at her, unable to speak. She'd never looked so gorgeous.

"I think I just saw your jaw drop, Moscovitz," Mia whispered playfully, taking one of Michael's hands and drawing him in closer to her.

"I don't think it's the first time it's happened around you, Thermopolis," Michael whispered back, in an equally playful tone. He took her other hand and placed her hands around his shoulders, then placing his own around her waist. Slowly, they began to dance in time with the slow music.

Nothing was said for a long moment, but then Michael spoke, his voice barely audible in Mia's ear. "You look beautiful."

Mia blushed, and she was thankful that her face was buried into Michael's neck so he couldn't tell how much such a simple statement affected her.

They danced and danced. The guests started leaving, the candles were dying down, but a few couples still scattered the dance floor and the hallways of the Genovian castle. Mia and Michael left the ballroom and walked upstairs, then out into the night on the large balcony at the front of the palace.

Mia went to the edge of the balcony and sat down on the cold stone, being careful of her dress. Michael came over and sat right beside her, putting an arm gently around her shoulders and pulling her in closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder, looking out at the night sky and all the twinkling stars that dotted the black night.

"This trip has been unforgettable," Michael said, breaking a long silence with a soft statement.

"I know," said Mia, and laughed a little, quietly. "It was never this great to be here back when I actually lived here."

Michael turned around, still seated, so that he was facing Mia. He took both her hands in his and then leaned forward, resting his forehead gently against hers. He looked down at their hands, joined together. Mia's fingers weaved through his own. And he knew, he'd never had anything so special before in his entire life.

Sighing deeply, she moved in closer and brought her lips to his in a sweet, short kiss. She pulled away first, breathless.

He remained still, glued to his spot. Eyes shut, lips eagerly awaiting more. Mia smiled to herself and moved closer to him, seating herself daintily in his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck, placing her lips back on his. She lifted her hands from his and ran her fingers through his hair. His own hands were on her cheeks, her arms, her knees. In her hair. Pulling her in, desperately.

And then they both had to pull away, for lack of oxygen. Mia rested her head on Michael's chest and rotated her face so that her blue eyes met Michael's brown eyes. She could see them twinkling in the night and she saw herself, smiling blissfully, reflected in them. She never wanted to look away.

Michael leaned down and kissed her again, briefly. When he pulled away, he didn't pull away very far and Mia could feel his cool breath on her cheeks. He stopped smiling and his face took on a serious expression.

"Mia," he said, slowly.

She smiled, and he smiled back, his eyes remaining serious. That familiar half-smile she loved so much...

"I love you," he said softly, unexpectedly.

Mia's heart nearly stopped. Nearly. She recovered just enough to respond. Lifting her hand to his head, she twirled a piece of his shiny brown hair around her finger. She knew what to say, and the words just flowed out. "I love you too, Michael," she answered, and the smile she recieved back from him was nearly enough to make her forget about anything and everything that existed outside of Michael and herself.

One smile from Michael and Mia's stomach got butterflies. One kiss, her mind became a mess. One 'I love you' from Michael's lips and Mia's world was turned upside down. And she didn't mind it at all.


End file.
